Are There Flies in Paradise?

Surely not! How could it be paradise if it were buzzing with flies? So whoever gave the glitzy paradise flycatcher its name must have been smoking something strong! The bird is a dazzler: gents over four years, clad in silken white and ash grey, flaunting 18-inch-long tail ribbons, their heads and crests a glossy inky blue-black, their eyes neon-ringed. So yes, they would fit well in paradise. Unfortunately, they happen to also belong to the huge flycatcher clan — and alas, they do catch flies.

The one I was photographing up in the mountains at Naukuchiyatal, in Uttarakhand, was doing just that. It was zipping up and down — occasionally right at my feet — and snapping up the flies that happened to be buzzing around. With its partner, it had a nest some distance away, hidden in a copse, to which the birds would fly to and fro, their maws full of high-protein flies for their brood.

And yes, you could say I was in paradise. The mountainside was green and lush and thickly forested; in the distance, the great Himalayas glittered like cut-glass ice, the skies piercingly blue, and the nine-cornered lake nearby lapped placidly at its shores. Surely, this was no place for flies!

Then I glanced at where I was standing: knee-deep in the garbage dump of the resort I was staying at. They simply throw their trash down the mountainside every day, and trash naturally attracts flies, and flies, their glamorous predator. So all the bird was doing was living up to its name: dwelling in paradise and catching flies! Sad to say, there are flies in paradise after all, which is why we have paradise flycatchers!