From Opus

Photo by Neil Fifer
Location: Newcastle, Australia

Elseyornis melanops

[edit] Identification

Adult

• Black face-mask and breast-band
• Pale brown upperparts
• Chestnut shoulder bar
• White underparts
• Pinkish-orange legs
• Red bill with black tip
• Dark eye ringed red
• Short tail
  

Juvenile: lacks the breast-band but a brown band appears as the bird matures

[edit] Distribution

Australia (except arid areas), Tasmania and New Zealand.

Juvenile with AdultPhoto by bryanhj
Olympic Park Sydney, November 2005

[edit] Taxonomy

A monotypic species^[1]

[edit] Habitat

Margins of lakes, swamps, dams: less often saline lagoons, rarely coastal.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Movement

Typically runs and pecks when feeding. Fast flyer.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects and small molluscs

[edit] Breeding

Eggs are laid in a shallow scrape, often on pebbly ground, usually close to water. It may have more then one brood per year. Both parents take responsibility for rearing the young.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Birds in Backyards

• List of references

[edit] External Links