Alternative names: Meyer's Sicklebill; Grey Saber-tailed Bird-of-paradise; Brown Sickle-billed Bird-of-paradise
- Epimachus meyeri
Identification
Male 49cm (96cm including tail), female 52cm. A large Bird-of-paradise with a long, sickle-shaped bill and a long tail.
Male
- Iridescent brown and black upperparts
- Brown underparts
- Pale blue iris
- Bright yellow mouth
- Plumes on sides of breast
- Sabre shaped central tail feathers
Female
- Rufous brown upperparts
- Buff underparts, barred black
- Pale blue eye (compare with female Black Sicklebill)
Juveniles and immatures are similar to females.
Distribution
Endemic to the mountains of New Guinea.
Common to abundant over much of its range.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Three subspecies are recognized[1]:
- E. m. meyeri:
- Mountains of extreme south-eastern New Guinea
- E. m. bloodi:
- Highlands and mountains of eastern New Guinea
- E. m. albicans:
- Weyland Mountains to Hindenburg and Victor Emanuel Mountains in central New Guinea
The proposed subspecies megarhynchus is usually synonymied with albicans.
Habitat
High-altitude rainforest. Also visits garden feeding stations. Occurs at 1500 - 3200m, mainly at 1900 - 2900m. Usually at higher elevation than Black Sicklebill.
Behaviour
The diet includes insects, fruits, and small animals.
Feeds usually singly, sometimes in small groups, also with other Birds-of-paradise, especially Astrapias.
Breeding season at least from April to January. A polygynous species. The male advertises from a traditional high perch (usually a broken-off vertical tree trunk) and performs its display. The advertisement song sound like a burst of automatic gun-fire. The female builds and attends the nest alone.
The nest is a shallow bowl made of mosses, fern fronds, leaves and vines. It's placed 4-12m above the ground in the crown of a small tree, a pandanus or a tree-fern. Lays 1 egg.
Presumably a resident species.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Brown Sicklebill. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Brown_Sicklebill
