Falkland Islands 'News Bird', 'Blue Bird'. Resident breeder. Slender, agile and quick bird with erect stance. Length: 16 cm ( 6.25 inches) Underparts light grey and upperparts brownish grey with a darker top to the head. Feeds catching flies and moths on the wing or taking larve and other small invertebrates off the ground.

Common and widespread East and West Falklands, inland and coastal. Likes rocky outcrops, stone-runs and coastal cliffs for nesting. It can live alongside cats and rodents on tussac islands probably because it feeds on the wing and nests in crevices of caves and cliffs.

M.m. macloviana is confined to the Falkland Islands but a similar race M. m. mentalis is a common resident in Tierra del Fuego and islands of the Beagle Channel as far as Staten Island.

Sources include: Falkland Islands State of the Environment Report 2008 Otley H, Munro G, Clausen A, Ingham B. A Field Guide to the Wildlife of The Falkland Islands and South Georgia - Ian J Strange, Guide to Birds of the Falkland Islands- Robin W. Woods.

Photographic credits: Robert Maddocks, Ali Dodd

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