Alternative names: Wallace's Standardwing; Standardwing Bird-of-paradise
- Semioptera wallacii
Identification
Male 26cm, female 23cm. A distinctive Bird-of-paradise with a short tail.
Male
- Conspicious yellowish tuft above base of bill
- Dully iridiscent lavender-grey flat crown
- Olive-brown mantle and rump
- Mid-brown to greyish wing
- Two elongated lesser coverts form white "standards", sometimes longer than wing
- Dark buffy malar area
- Bronzed yellow-green chin and throat
- Extensive iridescent emerald-green breast shield
- Rest of underparts brown
- Dark brown eye
- Pale horn-colour bill
- Yellow-orange legs
Female
- Smaller, without standards and breast shield
- Tuft above nostril smaller
Juveniles undescribed, immature males like females.
Distribution
Endemic to Halmahera and the islands of Kasiruta and Bacan, off southwest Halmahera, Indonesia.
Restricted-range species, still fairly common in suitable habitat. Logging and agricultural expansion are a serious threat to the future survival of this and many other species on Halmahera.
Taxonomy
The original spelling was Semeioptera wallacei.
Subspecies
Two subspecies recognized:
Habitat
Rainforest in lowlands and hills, occurs up to at least 1000m.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on fruits and arthropods. Forages for fruits in small groups of 3 to 4 birds.
Breeding
Breeding season at least from May to September. A polygynous species. Males form a lek (5 - 7 males together) and perform a complex display from traditional perches on trees.
The female builds and attends the nest alone. Only one nest recorded which was an open cup made of dried leaves and placed 10m above the ground. It contained 1 egg.
Movements
Presumably a resident species.
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/
- 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. (2024) Standardwing. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Standardwing
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
