From Opus

Photo by Neil
Location: Sydney, Australia

Monarcha melanopsis

[edit] Identification

• Black face not extending to the eyes
• Grey upperparts, wings and upper breast
• Rufous belly
• Dark eye with thin black eye ring, lighter area of pale grey around it
• Bill is blue-grey with a hooked tip

Young birds are similar without the black face. Black bill and rather a brownish body and wings

[edit] Similar Species

Black-winged Monarch and Spectacled Monarch

[edit] Distribution

Photo by daKing
Juvenile, Gold Coast Queensland, Australia

Eastern Australia (more common in north), migrating to New Guinea.

[edit] Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species.

[edit] Habitat

Rainforests, eucalypt woodlands, coastal scrub and damp gullies, in coastal areas

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects.

[edit] Breeding

The female builds a deep cup nest using casuarina needles, bark, roots, moss and spider web, about 3-6 m above the ground in the fork of a tree. Both sexes incubate the eggs and feed the young.

[edit] References

1. Birds in Backyards

[edit] External Links

• View more images of this species on the ABID