Black-billed Sicklebill
Drepanornis albertisi
A large, long-billed bird of mid-montane forest. Brown upperparts and grayish, facial skin behind the eye. Note the curved, black bill. Male has a black throat and a small, hornlike tuft in front of each eye with blue-green iridescence. Female has pale underparts with dark scaling. Uses its distinctive bill to probe for insects but also takes fruit. Female similar to female Black and Brown Sicklebills, but usually occurs at lower elevations, has a shorter tail and lacks the black throat. Song, a series of identical high notes, slurred into a loose trill which increases in volume.
Identification
The black-billed sicklebill is medium-sized, about 35 cm long, brown. The male has a bare maroon-grey skin around its eye, buff-colored tail, dark-brown iris, yellow mouth and black sickle-like bill. It is adorned with dark, horn-like forecrown feathers, an erectile fan-like bronze neck plumes and elongated purple-tipped flank plumes. The unadorned brown female is smaller, with bill longer than male and dark-barred below.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Drepanornis albertisi
- Authority
- (Sclater, PL, 1873)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Paradisaeidae
- Genus
- Drepanornis
Range and habitat
The black-billed sicklebill is found in mountainous areas with a scattered range of presence across western, central and eastern New Guinea. The species is mostly distributed in tropical montane forests at altitudes of 1100 to 1900 m above sea level. It overlaps with Drepanornis brujini only barely, but no hybridization has ever been recorded, though it is possible to occur.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
Widespread throughout its large range, the black-billed sicklebill is evaluated as being of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
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Hypocnemis hypoxantha
Rather small antbird with a disjunct distribution. Males have a yellow face and underparts with a black crown, eye-line, and streaks on the breast. Females have a yellow streaked crown. Southeastern subspecies has ochraceous lower underparts. Song is a descending and decelerating series of fluted notes becoming harsher at the end. Found in the understory of humid forests, often in areas of transitional forest or poor soils. Rarely accompanies mixed-species flocks. The similar Spix's and Peruvian Warbling-Antbirds have white breasts, and the song of Peruvian is somewhat slower-paced.
Salvin's Prion
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A pale powder-blue-and-white seabird with a faint grayish dark “M” across the upperwings. Note the dark blue “thumb mark” collar, the blue eye-stripe, the white eyebrow, the white throat, and the grayish cap. Almost identical to Antarctic Prion, but bulkier and more heavy-chested, with a slightly wider bill. Essentially identical to MacGillivray’s Prion, with which it shares the breeding island of Gough, in the South Atlantic; MacGillivray’s has a slightly broader bill, but identification likely to be impossible at sea in most cases. Present species also breeds on the Crozet and Prince Edward Islands, and ranges from off southern Africa to New Zealand.
Abyssinian Sunbird
Cinnyris habessinicus
A medium-sized, long-billed sunbird in which males and females are very different. Males have a green head, purple forehead, red-and-yellow band across the chest, and a black belly. Females are plain, with olive-gray on the back and pale gray below. Found in dry thorn savanna, woodland, and gardens. Male could be confused with Black-bellied, Gorgeous, or Beautiful Sunbirds, but is chunkier and larger, and lacks the elongated central tail feathers of those species. Females can be identified with caution by their combination of plain, unstreaked underparts, long bill, and conspicuous pale eyebrow. Common vocalizations include a “vit” call, warbling series, and dry trills.
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