From Opus

Alternative names: Wattled Shrike-tit; Ploughshare Tit

Eulacestoma nigropectus

[edit] Identification

12.5 - 14cm. A distinctive passerine from New Guinea:

• Black, deep bill laterally compressed and upper mandible hooked
• Large circular rose-pink wattle from gape to side of throat on each side
• Top of head and upperparts ochraceous olive, forehead more golden
• Blackish-brown or sooty black upperwings and tail
• Yellow chin and upper throat
• Black lower throat and and breast
• Olive-green rest of underparts

Females don't have wattles and they lack the black in their underparts. Juveniles are rusty chestnut above.

[edit] Distribution

Endemic to New Guinea from the Weyland mountains east to the mountains of the southeast.
Rare to uncommon in most of its range.

[edit] Taxonomy

Monotypic.
A proposed subspecies clara regarded as invalid by most authors.

[edit] Habitat

Forest and adjoining dense regrowth. Prefers thickets and climbing bamboo. Found mainly at 1950 - 2850m.

[edit] Behaviour

Feeds on insects.
It uses its strong, thick, wedge-shaped black bill, as a plough on dead tree branches, bark and twigs in search of food.
Often in mixed-species flocks.
Juveniles recorded in May and late June. No information about nest or clutch size.
Probably a sedentary species.

[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.
2. 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

• List of references

[edit] External Links