Slender, medium-sized pseudo babbler. Adults and immature birds are uniformly rich russet-brown all over, with yellowish bill and dusky feet; eyes are pale cream in adults, brown in immature birds.
Not Threatened
Slender, medium-sized pseudo babbler. Adults and immature birds are uniformly rich russet-brown all over, with yellowish bill and dusky feet; eyes are pale cream in adults, brown in immature birds.
23–25 cm, 65–75 g
Taxonomy: Pomatorhinus Isidorei, Lesson, 1827, Dorei Harbour = Manokwari, north-western New Guinea. Sometimes placed in a separate genus, Garritornis, on basis mainly of yellow (not black) bill, rufous plumage coloration and distinctive pendent nest, and recent analyses suggest some possible genetic differences; further study required. Precise distributions of races uncertain; details given below are tentative. Two subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * isidorei (Lesson, 1827) - West Papuan Is (Waigeo, Misool) and lowland New Guinea except N. * calidus (Rothschild, 1931) - N New Guinea E to Astrolabe Bay.
All lowland New Guinea and Misool Island up to about 1,500 ft (500 m) altitude.
Forages mainly by probing bark and crannies on trunks and branchlets of forest substage but also digs in litter of jungle floor. Diet includes a range of arthropods; small reptiles also taken.
Poorly documented. Nests are pensile, massively elongate, and slung from the ends of fronds (usually rattan palms) at 10–26 ft (3–8 m) above the forest floor. Nests are built by the senior pair and helpers. The clutch, probably incubated by the female alone, is usually of two eggs, about 1.1 by 0.7 in (28 by 18 mm), and scribbled all over as in other pseudo babblers. Both parents, at least, feed the young.