Photo © by tcollins
Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, February 2007
- Lalage leucomela
Identification
17–19·5 cm (6¾-7¾ in)
- White forehead and supercilium
- Black upperparts
- Dark grey rump
- White markings on wings
- White underparts with fine dark barring
- Cinnamon vent
Female: browner upperparts and barred, grey-buff underparts
Distribution
New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, and eastern Australia.
Taxonomy
Mussau Triller was formerly included in this species.
Subspecies
Lalage leucomela has 15 subspecies:[1]:
- L. l. keyensis: Kai Islands (Kai Kecil, Kai Besar and Add)
- L. l. polygrammica: Aru Islands and eastern New Guinea
- L. l. obscurior: D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago
- L. l. trobriandi: Trobriand Islands
- L. l. pallescens: Louisiade Archipelago (Misima and Tagula)
- L. l. falsa Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, Umboi and Duke of York)
- L. l. karu: New Ireland (Bismarck Archipelago)
- L. l. albidior: New Hanover (Bismarck Archipelago)
- L. l. ottomeyeri: Lihir Islands (Bismarck Archipelago)
- L. l. tabarensis: Tabar Island (Bismarck Archipelago)
- L. l. sumunae: Dyaul Island (Bismarck Archipelago)
- L. l. macrura: North-western Western Australia (western Kimberley Division)
- L. l. rufiventris: Northern Northern Territory (Melville Island, Arnhem Land, Groote Eylandt)
- L. l. yorki: Northern Queensland (islands in southern Torres Strait and Cape York Peninsula)
- L. l. leucomela: Eastern Australia (central Queensland to central New South Wales)
Habitat
Rain and dry forests, vine forest, riverine thickets, eucalypt forest and woodland, they show a marked partiality for border areas between closed and open forests.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet consists of insects (especially caterpillars) and grasshopper, with the addition of figs and other fruit, berries, and seeds.
Breeding
They breed during the rainy season. The nest is a very small shallow cup made of dry grass, twigs, rootlets, and spider webs placed on a horizontal branch or fork. They lay a single egg.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2010. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.7). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- The Website of Everything
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved February 2015)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Varied Triller. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Varied_Triller
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
