Goldie's Lorikeet
Glossoptilus goldiei
A medium-sized lorikeet of montane forests. Dark green back, dark streaks on pale green underparts, pink and purple face, and red crown. Seasonal movements with the flowering of host trees. Most similar to the rare Striated Lorikeet, but Goldie’s Lorikeet is usually found at higher elevation, has dark streaks on a pale background rather than the other way round, the distinctive face color and a yellow band across the wing in flight. Call, a high-pitch, ringing “slik!” or longer, slurred “siikilik!”.
Identification
Goldie's lorikeet is 19 cm (7.5 in) long. It is mainly green, and its underside is yellow-green with dark green longitudinal streaks. It has a red plumage on the crown, which is less extensive in the female. The back of its head is blue, its cheeks are mainly mauve and blue, its beak is black, and its irises are brown. Its legs are greenish-brown. In juveniles the red on the head is reduced to a small red patch above its beak. Juveniles have a brown beak, a green crown, and greyish-blue plumage on the back of the head.
Taxonomy
Goldie's lorikeet was formally described in 1882 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe from a specimen collected in New Guinea by Andrew Goldie (1840–1891). Sharpe coined the binomial name Trichoglossus goldiei. Goldie's lorikeet was formerly placed in the genus Psitteuteles but was moved to its own genus Glossoptilus following the publication in 2020 of a phylogenetic study of the lorikeets. The genus Glossoptilus had been introduced in 1896 by Walter Rothschild and Ernst Hartert.
- Scientific name
- Glossoptilus goldiei
- Authority
- (Sharpe, 1882)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittaculidae
- Genus
- Glossoptilus
Range and habitat
Goldie's lorikeet is native to the highlands of New Guinea.
- Migration
- Nomadic
Behavior
Migration pattern: Nomadic.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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