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
Masked Bowerbird
Sericulus aureus
A very colorful bowerbird of foothill and lower montane forests. Male is bright orange and yellow with a black face, edge to the wing and tail. Female has yellow underparts and a brown back with brown scaling on the chest. Forages for fruit in the canopy but perches out in the early morning. Golden Myna is superficially similar, although the male Masked Bowerbird lacks the black back and belly. Call, a loud rasping note that sounds rather like a taser.
Pictorella Munia
Heteromunia pectoralis
Small, grayish-brown bird with a scaly white bib, a dark black facial mask, buffy belly, and a gray bill. Juveniles very plain brown, with faint outline of adult's mask. Inhabits dry grasslands and edges of wetlands across northern Australia, including spinifex, and sometimes wanders far from core range. Gives a distinctive “teet” in flight or sparrow-like chip note.
Green Jery
Neomixis viridis
Tiny, energetic, sharp-billed warbler. Dull green on the back, grayish below, with orange legs. Small bill and short tail. Madagascar endemic that is found in eastern rainforest. Often joins flocks with other small bird species. Inconspicuous bird that is easily missed if you don’t know its quiet song, which is given from the canopy: a high-pitched, whispy, ascending series of notes. Smaller and duller than all other jeries.
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