Alternative name: Black-backed Whistler
- Pachycephala monacha
Identification
15 - 16cm.
- Black head and neck
- Brownish-black upperparts with paler and greyer rump
- Black chin, throat and upper breast
- White rests of underparts
- Dark brown eye
- Black bill
Females are mainly blackish-grey with white belly and lower breast. Lugubris is darker than nominate.
Distribution
Found in New Guinea and on Aru Islands off southwest New Guinea.
Common and widespread in some parts of its range, scarce in others.
Taxonomy
Two subspecies recognized:
- P. m. monacha on Aru Islands, Indonesia
- P. m. lugubris patchily distributed in New Guinea
Lugubris is sometimes referred to as dorsalis, but the older name lugubris has priority.
Forms a superspecies with Drab Whistler, Rufous Whistler, White-bellied Whistler and Wallacean Whistler and has been considered conspecific with some of them. Hybrids with White-bellied Whistler recorded.
Habitat
Forest edges, plantations, gardens and villages. Found at 550 - 1980m, mainly above 1000m. Locally also in lowlands.
Behaviour
Feeds on insects.
Breeding recorded in October and January. The nest is a cup made of vegetable matter. It's placed 6 - 25m above the ground in a tree fork.
Resident species.
References
- 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.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2007. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553422
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-headed Whistler. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-headed_Whistler
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
