Similar in size and shape to G. levigaster, but with much broader and often longer bill. Nominate race has prominent pale broken eyering, variable white supraloral spot; cold olive-brown above, tail grey-brown, dusky subterminal tailband, indistinct (variable) off-white spots on tips of outer rectrices; whitish below, faint buffish-grey wash on breast side and flanks, stronger on rear flanks; iris red to orange-red; bill black, sometimes dark brown; legs black to flesh-grey. Sexes alike. Juvenile has faint lemon-yellow wash on eyering and chin to breast, less greyish-buff wash on side of chest, iris brown or grey-brown, bill brown or brownish-black, sometimes pale base of lower mandible. Races differ in biometrics and/or in tone of upperparts and extent and tone of buff on underparts: cairnsensis is very like nominate but colder, more olive-brown, above, with larger and bolder tail spots, often richer buff bellow, and has both shorter wing and shorter bill; brunneipectus resembles previous, but supraloral spot less distinct, tail spots poorly defined and often restricted to outer two or three feather pairs; other races differ in minor details of size and plumage.
Not Threatened
Similar in size and shape to G. levigaster, but with much broader and often longer bill. Nominate race has prominent pale broken eyering, variable white supraloral spot; cold olive-brown above, tail grey-brown, dusky subterminal tailband, indistinct (variable) off-white spots on tips of outer rectrices; whitish below, faint buffish-grey wash on breast side and flanks, stronger on rear flanks; iris red to orange-red; bill black, sometimes dark brown; legs black to flesh-grey. Sexes alike. Juvenile has faint lemon-yellow wash on eyering and chin to breast, less greyish-buff wash on side of chest, iris brown or grey-brown, bill brown or brownish-black, sometimes pale base of lower mandible. Races differ in biometrics and/or in tone of upperparts and extent and tone of buff on underparts: cairnsensis is very like nominate but colder, more olive-brown, above, with larger and bolder tail spots, often richer buff bellow, and has both shorter wing and shorter bill; brunneipectus resembles previous, but supraloral spot less distinct, tail spots poorly defined and often restricted to outer two or three feather pairs; other races differ in minor details of size and plumage.
10 – 12 cm; c. 7g
Taxonomy: Gerygone magnirostris Gould, 1843, Greenhill Island, Port Essington, Northern Territory, Australia. Morphological characters suggest possibility of fairly close link to G. dorsalis and G. chrysogaster. Often considered conspecific with G. hypoxantha, but the two seem quite distinct. Geographical variation not well marked; some races possibly untenable. Proposed race mimikae (S New Guinea from Onin Bay E to Port Moresby) synonymized with brunneipectus. Eleven subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * cobana (Mathews, 1926) - West Papuan Is (Waigeo I, Batanta I, Salawati I). * occasa Ripley, 1957 - Kofiau I (WC West Papuan Is). * conspicillata (G. R. Gray, 1859) - NW New Guinea (Vogelkop region). * affinis A. B. Meyer, 1874 - N New Guinea (including islands of Yapen, Manam and Karkar). * brunneipectus (Sharpe, 1879) - S New Guinea and islands in N Torres Strait (Boigu, Saibai). * proxima Rothschild & E. J. O. Hartert, 1918 - D’Entrecasteaux Archipelago (Goodenough I, Fergusson I), off SE New Guinea. * onerosa E. J. O. Hartert, 1899 - Misima I (Louisiade Archipelago), SE of D’Entrecasteaux Group. * tagulana Rothschild & E. J. O. Hartert, 1918 - Tagula I (Louisiade Archipelago). * rosseliana E. J. O. Hartert, 1899 - Rossel I (Louisiade Archipelago). * cairnsensis Mathews, 1912 - islands of S Torres Strait, and NE Australia (Cape York Peninsula S to Mitchell drainage in W and to Mackay in E). * magnirostris Gould, 1843 - coasts of N Western Australia (Napier-Broome Bay S to Collier Bay) and N Northern Territory (S to Daly R and Roper R), including Tiwi Is and Groote Eylandt.
Dry eucalypt (Eucalyptus) and acacia (Acacia) woodlands to 850 m in subtropical, temperate, semi-arid and arid-zones; avoids high-rainfall areas, but often found along watercourses.
Recorded food items include arachnids, beetles (Coleoptera), bugs (Hemiptera), lerp insects (Psyllidae), wasps and ants (Hymenoptera), and midges (Diptera). Arboreal, foraging mainly on outer foliage at 1 – 5 m, sometimes descending to ground; some aerial sallying. Jions mixed flocks with Acanthiza species, Smicrornis brevirostris, Red-capped Robin (Petroica goodenovii) and Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris).
Season Aug – Mar, mostly Sept – Jan. Nest, often built by both sexes, an oval purse, with slightly hooded side intrance and short “tail”, made of vegetable fibre and bark, bound with spider silk, lined with feathers and/or fine dry grass, suspended from small branch or fork usually in outer part of tree or sapling. Clutch 2 or 3 eggs, pinkish-white with small reddish or purplish-brown spots and blotches, especially at large end; incubation period 10 – 12 days; chicks fed by both parents, nestling period c. 10 – 13 days, sometimes up to 15 days. Nests parasitized by Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis), Brush Cuckoo (Cacomantis variolosus), and Horsfield's (Chrysococcyx basalis) and Shining Bronze-cuckoos (Chrysococcyx ucidus). Longevity in ringing studies more than 5 years 3 months.