Vogelkop Whistler
Pachycephala meyeri
A fairly small bird of lower montane forest. Both sexes look like a typical female whistler. Yellow belly, olive upperparts, gray head and diffuse band across the chest contrasting with very pale gray throat. Told from the usually higher Regent Whistler female by its plain, pale gray throat and from Sclater’s female by its gray head. Song, a short, whistled, medium-pitch phrase, increasing in volume. Also, an accelerating series of rising, identical-pitch notes with an explosive quality.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Pachycephala meyeri
- Authority
- Salvadori, 1890
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Pachycephalidae
- Genus
- Pachycephala
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
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Tachyspiza minulla
A tiny, secretive and inconspicuous hawk that flies quickly and nimbly within woodland thickets and forest while hunting small birds, other vertebrates, and insects. It has a very distinctive white rump and two pale spots on the upper tail. Call is a distinctive high-pitched bisyllabic, down-and-upslurred “chy-lip”. Similarly-plumaged African Goshawk is much larger; Red-thighed Sparrowhawk is similar in size but prefers dense rainforest, is more rufous below, and generally lacks barring on the underside.
Bronze-tailed Starling
Lamprotornis chalcurus
A beautiful, glossy green-and-purple starling. There is a stripe through the eye that sometimes looks black and sometimes deep purple. The eye is reddish-orange. Juveniles are dull and blackish. Found in a wide variety of savanna habitats, from moist broadleaf woodland to dry thorn savanna. Also found in villages, towns, and cultivated areas. Very similar to Lesser and Greater Blue-eared Starlings, but separated by the purple rather than greenish tail and the darker reddish eye. The vocalizations include rising whistles, nasal whines, and long series of chattering notes.
Taveuni Silktail
Lamprolia victoriae
Small and stub-tailed, appearing mostly dark. Shows vivid electric-blue speckling on chest, back, and head, brilliant blue in direct light. Shocking pure white rump and upper tail are diagnostic and obvious. Reliant on primary forest. Voice includes a drawn-out mournful whistle, similar to a squeaky bike wheel.
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