Gray-headed Robin
Heteromyias cinereifrons
Large, plump robin of montane rainforest. Both sexes olive brown above, with gray crown and breast, stark white throat, and white wing patch, prominent in flight. Upright stance, large size, intricate plumage, and pale pink legs distinctive. Usually feeds on or near the ground in rainforest of far northern Queensland.
Identification
The grey-headed robin has, as its name suggests, a grey crown and lores, white throat and olive-brown ear coverts and upperparts, with a white patch on the wings. The underparts are pale, the breast is pale grey, and the belly white. The bill and eyes are dark brown.
Taxonomy
It is one of two species within the genus Heteromyias. Previously, it and the ashy robin from New Guinea were treated as one species and known as Heteromyias albispecularis. Described by Australian naturalist Edward Pierson Ramsay in 1876, the grey-headed robin is a member of the Australasian robin family Petroicidae. Sibley and Ahlquist's DNA-DNA hybridisation studies placed this group in a Corvida parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines, including pardalotes, fairy-wrens, honeyeaters, and crows. However, subsequent molecular research (and current consensus) places the robins as a very early offshoot of the Passerida, or "advanced" songbirds, within the songbird lineage.
- Scientific name
- Heteromyias cinereifrons
- Authority
- (Ramsay, EP, 1876)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Petroicidae
- Genus
- Heteromyias
Range and habitat
It is endemic to Queensland in Australia. The range in Australia is from Cardwell to the Bloomfield River in northeastern Queensland. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Breeding occurs from August or September to January, with one or two broods per season. The nest is a shallow cup made of bark, grass, and dry leaves. Spider webs are used for binding or filling, and strips of fern and palm for lining; the outside is decorated by dried vegetation. The nest is generally placed in a lawyer vine up to 10 m (30 ft) above the ground. A clutch of one or two eggs is laid. The eggs are buff, cream- or dark greenish-white, and marked with light brown splotches and spots, usually concentrated around the large end, and they measure 26 by 19 mm.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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