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- Charmosyna stellae
Identification
36-42 cm.
- Head and nape mostly red
- Crown blue
- From eyes around the back of the head is a black band
- Underside from chin to lower breast red
- Belly and thighs show broad black band
- Wings and mantle dark green
- Lower back and sides of rump red, central rump blue shading to green on uppertail-coverts
- Dark green tail with very long central tail streamers (25 cm), with yellow tips
- Underwing-coverts and undertail coverts red
- Blackish underside of flight-feathers
- Bill and legs orange to dark red
Sexes similar, females have a yellow patch on the lower back and rump. Immatures are duller and have a shorter tail.
Variation
All three subspecies have a melanistic morph, where head and neck and underside is replaced by blue-black and very dark green; undertail coverts are red while underside of tail is greenish yellow. Also mixed red/black forms occur.
Distribution
Endemic to New Guinea where found in central and eastern mountains.
Fairly common, however the skins of Lorikeets are used as head decorations by local tribes and are much traded.
Taxonomy
Stella's Lorikeet and West Papuan Lorikeet were formerly considered one species under the name of Papuan Lorikeet.
Subspecies
This is a monotypic species[1]. Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:
- C. p. goliathina from the Weyland Mountains to Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea
- C. p. wahnesi in the Mountains of Huon Peninsula (northeast New Guinea)
- C. p. stellae in the mountains of southeast New Guinea (Herzog Mountains to Owen Stanley Range)
Habitat
Found in montane forest, including disturbed Nothofagus-Podocarpus forest.
Occurs from 1200 or 2000 to 3500 m asl, depending on subspecies (stellae in the upper range, goliathina down to the lower end.
Behaviour
Feeds on blossoms, flower buds, pollen, soft fruit and small seeds. Also seen consuming insects.
Movements
Some local nomadism reported, presumably searching for flowering trees.
Vocalisation
Some sounds described as soft or nasal while others as grating. Also has a loud wing beat.
References
- Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
- Collar, N., J. del Hoyo, and G. M. Kirwan (2023). Stella's Lorikeet (Charmosyna stellae), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (M. A. Bridwell and S. M. Billerman, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.paplor3.01
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Stella's Lorikeet. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Stella%27s_Lorikeet
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
