Alternative names: Grey Shrike-Robin; Eastern White-eyed Robin; White-throated Shrike-Robin, White-throated Thicket-Flycatcher; White-throated Robin
- Pachycephalopsis poliosoma
Identification
15-16.5 cm.
- Dark grey upperparts, sooty grey from gape to ear-coverts
- Sooty grey upperwing and tail
- Mottled white chin and throat, whiter side of throat
- Medium grey underparts
- Pale grey or buffy eye
- albigularis has a white chin and upper throat, greyish-black wing and tail and the belly a little paler than the breast
- approximans is similar to albigularis but has less white on throat
- balim has a tinged brown crown and breast, more brownish uppertail-coverts and tail, reduced white on throat and a more whitish belly
- idenburgi is similar to balim but has blacker crown and side of head and even less white on throat
- hunsteini has a white chin with buff wash, a grey throat, darker breast and belly and a blacker crown
- hypopolia is similar to hunsteini but slightly paler and smaller
Sexes similar, juveniles have dark olive-brown upperparts, dark blackish-brown lores, white chin and brown throat, breasts and flanks.
Distribution
Endemic to New Guinea.
Locally common to abundant but secretive and difficult to see.
Taxonomy
Seven subspecies recognized:
- P. p. idenburgiat northern slopes of central ranges of northern New Guinea
- P. p. hypopolia in northeast New Guinea (mountains of Huon Peninsula)
- P. p. albigularis in Weyland and Victor Emanuel mountains)
- P. p. balim in central New Guinea (valleys of the Bele and Balim rivers)
- P. p. approximans in central New Guinea (south slopes of Snow Mountains)
- P. p. hunsteini in the mountains along upper Sepik River
- P. p. poliosoma in the Herzog Mountains and mountains of southeast New Guinea
A population from the Torricelli Mountains in north-central New Guinea are not yet assigned to a subspecies.
Habitat
Hill forests and lower montanes.
Occurs mostly at 400 to 1700 m, up to 2200 m in Snow Mountains. Where sympatric with Green-backed Robin replaced by that species above 975 m.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on insects, maybe takes also larger items like eggs or nestlings.
Forages in the undergrowth or on the ground.
Breeding
Breeding season probably middle to late dry season. The nest is a cup made of rootlets and green moss. One recorded nest was placed 1,3 metres from the ground in a sapling and contained one egg.
Movements
Probably a sedentary species.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved May 2016)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) White-eyed Robin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/White-eyed_Robin
