Gray-bellied fan tail
| Gray-bellied fan tail | ||||||||||||
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| Rhipidura albolimbata | ||||||||||||
| Salvadori , 1874 |
The gray-bellied fan-tail ( Rhipidura albolimbata ), also known as the highland fan-tail , is a species of bird from the family of the fan-tails (Rhiipiduridae). It occurs exclusively in New Guinea. As is characteristic of fan tails, the gray-bellied fan tail has long tail plumage that can be fanned out wide.
The population of the gray-bellied fan tail is classified by the IUCN as not endangered ( least concern ).
features
The gray-bellied fan tail reaches a body length of 14 to 15 centimeters. They weigh between 9 and 11 grams.
Both sexes have a predominantly soot-black top of the body, the sides of the face are a bit grayer and a white line runs from the forehead to the top of the head. The wings have a striking white mirror and the tail plumage has white tips. The underside of the body is a lighter shade of gray.
Fledglings are spotted reddish brown on the top of their bodies. The wing mirror and the underside of the body are pale red-brown.
voice
The range of calls of the gray-bellied fan tail is large. The calls consist of a series of 3 to seven high, staccato-like whistles. Alternatively, he allows complex variations of on and falling whistles to be heard, which he repeats several times.
Distribution area, subspecies and habitat
The gray-bellied fan tail occurs in the mountains of New Guinea, the distribution area extends accordingly disjointly from the eastern tip of this largest island in the world after Greenland to Vogelkop , a peninsula in the west of New Guinea.
The extent to which subspecies are to be distinguished for the gray-bellied fan tail is debatable. Bruce Beehler et al. classify the species as monotypical and argue that the plumage and size differences observed between individuals at higher and lower altitudes are merely an expression of phenotypic plasticity . The Handbook of the Birds of the World, on the other hand, does not rule out the fact that a distinction between two subspecies is justified. It distinguishes the following subspecies:
- R. a. albolimbata Salvadori , 1874 - Mountains in the northwest, north and east of New Guinea.
- R. a. Lorentzi van Oort , 1909 - Snow Mountains and Central Highlands of New Guinea.
The habitat are almost all mountain forests in the mountains of New Guinea. It occurs there from an altitude of 1750 meters up to the tree line. It is a very common and widespread bird in the mountains of the central center of the island.
Way of life
The gray-bellied fan tail lives mostly singly or in pairs. It is an insect eater who often catches its prey in flight, but also searches the foliage for them. The nest is built at a low height in the tangle of creepers. As is characteristic of fan tails, it is cup-shaped and often has a tail-shaped appendage. The clutch size is so far unknown.
Trivia
- The cottage gardener , a foliage-build type from the family of Bowerbirds , mimics very common to the calls of the gray belly fan tail.
literature
- Bruce M. Beehler , Thane K. Pratt: Birds of New Guinea; Distribution, Taxonomy, and Systematics . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-16424-3 .
- Thane K. Pratt and Bruce M. Beehler: Birds of New Guinea . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2015, ISBN 978-0-691-09562-2 .
Web links
Single receipts
- ^ Pratt and Beehler: Birds of New Guinea . P. 467.
- ↑ a b c Handbook of the Birds of the World on the Graubauch fan tail , accessed on July 29, 2017
- ^ Pratt and Beehler: Birds of New Guinea . P. 470.
- ↑ a b c Beehler & Pratt: Birds of New Guinea; Distribution, Taxonomy, and Systematics . P. 411.
- ↑ Clifford B. Frith, Dawn. W. Frith: The Bowerbirds - Ptilonorhynchidae . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-854844-3 . P. 293.