Black-eared Catbird - BirdForum Opus

Ailuroedus melanotis

Identification

29cm.

• Emerald green plumage, paler below
• Heavy whitish spotting on head, underparts and mantle
• Whitish head with dark black markings
• Tail, greater coverts and secondaries finely tipped white
• Whitish bill
• Red eye

Sexes similar, females are slightly smaller

Similar Species

Green Catbird can appear similar but has a more or less uniform green head. White-eared Catbird is smaller, has an unmarked brown crown and a distinctive white ear-patch.

Distribution

Patchily distributed in New Guinea and adjacent islands and in Queensland, Australia.
Common and widespread in its range.

Taxonomy

Three subspecies recognized:

• A. m. facialis in mountains of west New Guinea
• A. m. melanotis on Aru Islands and Trans-Fly lowlands, south New Guinea
• A. m. joanae in east Cape York Peninsula and north Queensland, Australia

Formerly included in Spotted Catbird.

Habitat

Tropical rainforest in lowlands and mountains. Also tall secondary growth, gardens and orchards. Occurs from sea-level up to 2250 m in New Guinea, up to 1540m in Australia.

Behaviour

Feeds mostly on fruits. Takes also some flowers, stems, sap and animals (mostly arthropods).
Known to cache fruit in niches for later. Forages singly, in pairs, family groups or mixed-species flocks with other fruit-eating birds.
Breeding season August to January in New Guinea, October to December in Australia. They form long-standing monogamous pairs. They make a bowl-shaped nest of sticks and leaves about 2-10m above the ground. 1-3 plain cream coloured eggs are laid. Incubation is 19-25 days, and nestlings fledge at about 18-22 days.
A resident species.

Vocalisations

The name Catbird derives from its distinctive call, like meowing heard mainly at dawn and dusk.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2016. IOC World Bird Names (version 6.2). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
3. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
4. Simpson, K and N Day. 1998. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-4877-5

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-eared Catbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-eared_Catbird

External Links

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