White-bellied swallow star
| White-bellied swallow star | ||||||||||||
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White-bellied Swallow Star ( Artamus leucorynchus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Artamus leucorynchus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1771) |
The white-bellied swallow star ( Artamus leucorynchus ), also known as the white-breasted swallow star , is a 17 cm tall member of the genus of the star swallow ( Artamus ) in the family of star swallow relatives (Artamidae).
Appearance
The birds have black back plumage, the belly is white. The head, the underside of the tail and the legs are also black. The beak is metallic gray. Males and females look very similar. The weight is up to 73 grams.
distribution and habitat
This species occurs in forest areas and the mangrove areas of Australia , on the island of New Guinea , the Philippines , the Andamans , on Palau and the Fiji Islands .
Way of life
The birds are stalking hunters who look for insects from a seat of a branch and then dive to catch them. They also look for insects and their larvae on the ground. They live together in small groups of up to ten animals. On cold nights the animals sit close together on branches to warm each other.
Reproduction
During courtship, the male brings food to the female, which it hands over to the female in flight. Then the male flaps back and forth with wide open wings and spread tail until both partners perform synchronous flight movements. Then mating occurs. During the breeding season they build a bowl-shaped nest out of small wooden sticks, which they put in forks or hollow trunks of a tree. Sometimes they move into abandoned bird nests. The 3–4 cream-white eggs with red-brown spots are incubated by both parents for up to 19 days. Other conspecifics also help with the care of the young.
Hazards and protective measures
As the species is still relatively common and no threats are known, the IUCN classifies it as least concern .
Subspecies
There are nine known subspecies:
- Artamus leucorynchus pelewensis Finsch , 1876 on Palau .
- Artamus leucorynchus leucorynchus ( Linnaeus , 1771) from the Philippines to Borneo .
- Artamus leucorynchus amydrus Oberholser , 1917 in the western part of the Malay Peninsula , on Sumatra , on Java , on Bali and the neighboring islands.
- Artamus leucorynchus humei Stresemann , 1913 on the Andaman and Coconut Islands .
- Artamus leucorynchus albiventer ( RP Lesson , 1831) on Sulawesi and the western and central Lesser Sunda Islands .
- Artamus leucorynchus musschenbroeki A. B. Meyer , 1884 on the Tanimbar Islands and Babar Islands .
- Artamus leucorynchus leucopygialis Gould , 1842 in the Moluccas , New Guinea and the Aru Islands .
- Artamus leucorynchus melaleucus ( Wagler , 1827) in New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands .
- Artamus leucorynchus tenuis Mayr , 1943 on Vanuatu and the Banks Islands .
literature
- Philip Whitfield (ed.): The great world empire of the animals. Planet Media AG, Zug 1992, ISBN 3-8247-8614-1 , pp. 396, 397.
- Christopher M. Perrins (Ed.): The FSVO encyclopedia birds of the world. Translated from the English by Einhard Bezzel . BLV, Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2004, ISBN 978-3-405-16682-3 , p. 492 (title of the English original edition: The New Encyclopedia Of Birds. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2003).
Individual evidence
Web links
- Artamus leucoryn inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017.3. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2017.