Chrysococcyx meyeri

General description: 

Adult glossy green above, crown green, ear- coverts white, female with chestnut forecrown; white below with prominent glossy green barring, undertail black with white bars on inner webs of outer feathers; large rufous patch on flight- feathers; eye- ring red in male to grey in female, iris pale brown to grey- brown, darker on inner rim, bill black, feet blue- grey. Juvenile grey- brown above, head grey, tail rufous- grey with dark grey near tip, grey below, iris brown, feet light brown. Voice: Song 5- 8 high- pitched clear notes, “peer peer peer ...”, dropping slightly in pitch, final note preceded by a pause; also a complex song of 4 pairs of downslurred notes, the pairs rising and falling.

Conservation status: 

Not Threatened.

Diagnostic description: 

Adult glossy green above, crown green, ear- coverts white, female with chestnut forecrown; white below with prominent glossy green barring, undertail black with white bars on inner webs of outer feathers; large rufous patch on flight- feathers; eye- ring red in male to grey in female, iris pale brown to grey- brown, darker on inner rim, bill black, feet blue- grey. Juvenile grey- brown above, head grey, tail rufous- grey with dark grey near tip, grey below, iris brown, feet light brown. Voice: Song 5- 8 high- pitched clear notes, “peer peer peer ...”, dropping slightly in pitch, final note preceded by a pause; also a complex song of 4 pairs of downslurred notes, the pairs rising and falling.

Behaviour: 

Size: 

15 cm; 20 g

Phylogeny: 

Taxonomy:

    Chrysococcyx meyeri Salvadori, 1874, Hatam, Arfak Mountains, New Guinea. Asian and Australasian forms of Chrysococcyx sometimes placed in genus Chalcites. Monotypic. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Distribution: 

Distribution:

    Mountains of New Guinea and Batanta I.
Habitat: 

Inhabits forests, including forest edge, also garden shade trees, mainly in lower montane habitats at 500- 1800 m.

Trophic strategy: 

Insects, caterpillars in canopy leaves. A regular member in mixed- species foraging flocks.

Reproduction: 

No information available. Presumably brood- parasitic.

Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith