This active, jumpy, acrobatic bird seldom sat still. Fortunately this individual returned to its favorite perch often enough for a few photos. In Tanzania, it is locally distributed with an isolated outpost in the Ngorongoro Forest highlands around Gibb's Farm. Otherwise it ranges primarily west of Tanzania through Angola.
The five species in the genus Elminia were previously assigned to the Monarch family (Monarchidae) but have been moved to the recently recognized family of Fairy Flycatchers (Stenostiridae). They superficially resemble fantails (Rhipiduridae), but genetic studies find they are unrelated. An interesting history of the science behind the recognition of the Stenostiridae is at...
http://creagrus.home.montereybay.com/stenostirids.html
IOC and African Bird Club drop the hyphen in "Blue-Flycatcher." Howard & Moore and HBW call this bird the "Blue-and-white Crested-Flycatcher" and confusingly use White-tailed Blue-flycatcher for Cyornis concretus (usually called the White-tailed Flycatcher) in the unrelated Muscicapidae.
Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LX5 | Nikon FieldScope III | 30XWA | hand-held (no adapter).