Adult slate grey above, bright chesnut below, eye-ring yellow, iris brown. Bill black and yellow, feet yellow. Juvenile unbarred dark grey-brown above, tail with rufous outer edge, unbarred brown to buff below. Race arfakianus dark chesnut below, smaller, weiskei green-glosse blackish above, darker chesnut below, size as arfakianus. Voice: Loud 3-note mournful whistled ‘seei-toseei’, first note upslurred, second shorter, third upslurred and trilled, also a descending trill, and single whistling ‘chir-rip’.
Not Threatened.
Adult slate grey above, bright chesnut below, eye-ring yellow, iris brown. Bill black and yellow, feet yellow. Juvenile unbarred dark grey-brown above, tail with rufous outer edge, unbarred brown to buff below. Race arfakianus dark chesnut below, smaller, weiskei green-glosse blackish above, darker chesnut below, size as arfakianus. Voice: Loud 3-note mournful whistled ‘seei-toseei’, first note upslurred, second shorter, third upslurred and trilled, also a descending trill, and single whistling ‘chir-rip’.
24 cm, 34 g
Taxonomy:
- Cuculus (Cacomantis) castaneiventris Gould, 1867, Cape York district, Queensland, Australia. Sometimes placed in . Three subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * arfakianus Salvadori, 1889 - W Papuan islands and W New Guinea from Vogelkop to Weyland and Snow Mts and E to R. Fly. * weiskei Reichenow, 1900 - E New Guinea, from Sepik region, Huon Peninsula and upper R Purari eastwards. * castaneiventris (Gould, 1867) - Aru Is and NE Australia (E coast of Cape York and NE Queensland).
Interior of montane forest, rain forest and scrub along riverbanks, also in mangroves, but rare at sea-level, mainly occurring at 1200-2100 m.
Insect, especially caterpillars. Move throughout forest canopy, taking insect, also watches from low perch, and flies to ground.
Breeds Sept-Oct-Dec-Jan in Australia. Host includes Sericornis arfakianus in NG, Sericornis beccarii in Australia.