Alternative name: Dwarf Friarbird
- Philemon meyeri
Identification
22 cm. A small, nondescript friarbird.
- Dark grey-brown to dusky brown upperparts, diffusely streaked blackish-brown
- Paler grey-brown underparts
- Small area of bluish-black to blackish bare skin over lores and around eye
- Black bill, slightly decurved
Sexes similar, juveniles with finely scaled or spotted off-white outer secondaries and inner primaries finely edged yellow-olive.
Distribution
Endemic to New Guinea.
Common to abundant in most of its range.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
Habitat
Moist lowland forests, swamp-forest, secondary growth and disturbed areas (like sides of roads).
Occurs from lowlands up to 1200 m, to 700 m in Fakfak Mountains, to 300 m in Kumawa Mountains.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on fruit, nectar and insects.
Forages mainly in the upper canopy, in dense outer or upper foliage of tree crowns, usually difficult to see. Usually singly or in pairs. Observed to chase smaller honeyeaters from trees.
Breeding
Poorly known, one clutch with two eggs. No other information.
Movements
Poorly known. May do some loval movements to lower altitudes to find flowering trees.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2015. IOC World Bird Names (version 5.2). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved July 2015)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Meyer's Friarbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Meyer%27s_Friarbird
