Tanysiptera sylvia
Both sexes nominate race blue head, blackish eyeband, dark blue UpP with white spot on upper back, white rump, tail blue, white elongated central feather remaining narrow to tip, 7-18 cm longer than rest of tail, UnP orange-buff, bill red, iris dark brown, legs and feet pink-red. Juvenile duller, bill brown. Race salvadoriana paler below, nigriceps black cap and scapulars, paler below, tail grey blue except for white shafts, inner webs and tips of central feathers, leucura similar to last, but completely white tail.
Not Threatened.
Both sexes nominate race blue head, blackish eyeband, dark blue UpP with white spot on upper back, white rump, tail blue, white elongated central feather remaining narrow to tip, 7-18 cm longer than rest of tail, UnP orange-buff, bill red, iris dark brown, legs and feet pink-red. Juvenile duller, bill brown. Race salvadoriana paler below, nigriceps black cap and scapulars, paler below, tail grey blue except for white shafts, inner webs and tips of central feathers, leucura similar to last, but completely white tail.
VOICE: Quiet rapid trill on one pitch, usually decelerating, also squawks, rattles, high-pitched “see” and shrill, descending series of 4 upslurre notes “krei,krei,krei,krei”.
29-37 cm, including tail streamers, male 38-61 g, female 44-61 g
Taxonomy:
- Tanysiptera sylvia Gould, 1850, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Sometimes placed in monospecific genus Uralcyon. Race nigriceps (with leucura) sometimes treated as forming a separate species. Non-breeding visitors to New Guinea described as race mira, but inseparable from nominate. Four subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * leucura Neumann, 1915 - Umboi I (Bismarck Archipelago). * nigriceps P. L. Sclater, 1877 - New Britain and Duke of York I. * salvadoriana E. P. Ramsay, 1879 - SE New Guinea, from R Angabunga to R Kemp Welch. * sylvia Gould, 1850 - NE Australia, from Cape York to Eurimbula; migrates to S & N New Guinea.
Monsoon forest, and lowland, notophyle vine and hill forest, usually with tall understorey and sparse ground cover, to 1560m in New Britain. Generally found near watercourses, and can be present in isolated patches of forest, but rarel in wet sclerophyll forest. Termites mounds an essential part of breeding area.
Wide variety of invertebrates, from Coleoptery, Orthoptera, Mantodea, Blattodea, Cicadidae, wasp and bees and larvae to Chilopoda, spiders, Oligochaeta and Gastropoda, also vertebrates, including frogs, Pleurodira and lizards.
Laying in May in mainland PNG. Nest generally in termitium on ground but sometimes in arboreal one. Clutch usually 3 eggs, laid at 1-day intervals, both parents incubate, but only female at night. Both adults fed for 35 days and 30 days after leaving nest.