Golden Monarch
Carterornis chrysomela
A beautiful, unique monarch, glowing golden with a bright fiery-orange head and a black throat with a white teardrop. Tail and wings black with large yellow wing panels. Found in most forested habitats up to 1400 meters of elevation. Song is a loud, rolling warble, “ditoweet duweet duweer teerteerteer.”
Identification
Measuring 12.5 to 14 cm (4.9 to 5.5 in), the golden monarch displays marked sexual dimorphism. The male is a bright golden colour with sharply delineated black cheeks and throat, primary wing feathers and tail. It has a pale blue and black bill and dark brown iris, and a distinctive teardrop pattern of white feathers under the eye. The subspecies pulcherrima has a golden back, others have a black back. The female lacks the black colouring and is instead an olive-greenish with more yellowish underparts. It has black bill and the teardrop pattern under the eye.
Taxonomy
The golden monarch was first described by French naturalist Prosper Garnot in 1827. It was originally described in the genus Muscicapa and then placed in the genus Monarcha until moved to Carterornis in 2009.<p>The golden monarch is a member of a group of birds termed monarch flycatchers. This group is considered either as a subfamily Monarchinae, together with the fantails as part of the drongo family Dicruridae, or as a family Monarchidae in its own right. They are not closely related to their namesakes, the Old World flycatchers of the family Muscicapidae as early molecular research in the late 1980s and early 1990s revealed that the monarchs belong to a large group of mainly Australasian birds known as the Corvida parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines. More recently, the grouping has been refined somewhat as the monarchs have been classified in a 'Core corvine' group with the crows and ravens, shrikes, birds of paradise, fantails, drongos and mudnest builders.<p>Alternate names for the golden monarch include the black-and-gold monarch, black-and-yellow monarch and black-and-yellow monarch flycatcher.<p>There are nine subspecies recognized:
- Scientific name
- Carterornis chrysomela
- Authority
- (Lesson, RP & Garnot, 1827)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Monarchidae
- Genus
- Carterornis
Range and habitat
The golden monarch is found across New Guinea, and to the Aru Islands to the west, the D'Entrecasteaux Islands and the Bismarck Archipelago to the east, but not New Britain.<p>The preferred habitat is lowland rainforest or swamp forest to 700 m (2000 ft), or 1400 m (4000 ft) in New Ireland. It stays mainly in the canopy, although may descend for water.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
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