Great Woodswallow
Artamus maximus
A medium-sized bird of forest edge, clearings and even towns in the mountains. Dark, slaty gray upperparts and hood down to upper chest. White underparts, rump and a small patch on the edge of the wing. Similar to White-breasted Woodswallow, but Great is found at higher elevations, is larger and gray parts much darker. Voice, a rather scratchy, jumbled song and a nasal “wek!”.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Artamus maximus
- Authority
- Meyer, AB, 1874
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Artamidae
- Genus
- Artamus
Range and habitat
The great woodswallow occurs naturally in tropical moist montane forest, usually amongst clearings with dead trees, most typically dead emergents above the canopy of primary rainforest. Although the species has been known to be common ever since the first Western explorers of New Guinea, it has adapted very well to human manipulation of the landscape and is especially common near Highland towns such as Mount Hagen and Goroka. Great woodswallows are found as high as 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), but are most abundant between 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) and 2,500 metres (8,200 ft). Unlike the Australian dusky woodswallow, great woodswallows do not reduce their body temperature on cool nights.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
Gray-crowned Yellowthroat
Geothlypis poliocephala
Retiring, olive and yellow warbler of savannas and grassy fields with scattered bushes or low palmetto shrubs. Not in wet marshes, unlike Common Yellowthroat. Perches on bushes and fences to sing and call, when often cocks and twitches tail, and sometimes raises a bushy crest. Sexes look alike, with a grayish crown and small black mask between the eyes and bill; populations south to Honduras have white eye-arcs, lacking in populations of southern Central America.
Blackstart
Oenanthe melanura
A small wheatear. Overall lead-gray with a prominent black tail which it fans continuously; often hops on the ground. Lives in rocky deserts and semi-arid zones; often found in desert wadis near trees and bushes and sometimes around human habitation. Can be very tame and bold. Its song is a beautiful, melancholic series of flutey syllables.
Great-winged Petrel
Pterodroma macroptera
A medium-sized, bulky dark petrel with a large head and long pointed wings. It often shows a grizzled, gray scaly muzzle around the bill. It flies fast with a flexed wrist and its heavy head angled downward, giving it a characteristic appearance. It breeds on subantarctic islands between the Tristan group and western Australia, dispersing across the southern oceans between 30 and 50°S, where it is a deep ocean specialist. Several species are similar to Great-winged Petrel. Gray-faced Petrel, sometimes considered the same species, breeds off New Zealand and is almost identical except for a more extensive grizzled face patch. The smaller Kerguelen Petrel has a more contrasting silvery underwing. The gadfly petrels mostly have more pale patterning on the underwing or belly and lack the bulkiness of Great-winged Petrel.
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