Rhipidura leucothorax

General description: 

Crown sooty brown, side of head black, complete white supercilium, amntle and black dark brown, rump and UT-C sooty black, wing blackish, W-C with white tips, tail black, R with broad white tips, chin to upper breast black, large white patch on throat side, lower breast mottted black and white, abdomen white, flanks and thighs grey-brown, UT-C black, iris dark brown, upper mandible black, lower mandible pale pink, legs dark grey to black. Sexes alike. Immature is like adult but browner, breast spotted with white, bill all dark. Clamosa is darker, blacker. Episcopalis has back browner.

Conservation status: 

Not Threatened

Threats: 

Fairy common to common in most range.

Diagnostic description: 

Crown sooty brown, side of head black, complete white supercilium, amntle and black dark brown, rump and UT-C sooty black, wing blackish, W-C with white tips, tail black, R with broad white tips, chin to upper breast black, large white patch on throat side, lower breast mottted black and white, abdomen white, flanks and thighs grey-brown, UT-C black, iris dark brown, upper mandible black, lower mandible pale pink, legs dark grey to black. Sexes alike. Immature is like adult but browner, breast spotted with white, bill all dark. Clamosa is darker, blacker. Episcopalis has back browner.

Size: 

18 cm, 19-19.7 g

Phylogeny: 

Taxonomy: Rhipidura leucothorax Salvadori, 1874, Hatam, Arfak Mountains (?error = Andai, Geelvink Bay), New Guinea. Forms a group with R. threnothorax and R. maculipectus. Race episcopalis intergrades with nominate. Three subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)

Distribution: 

Subspecies and Distribution:

    * leucothorax Salvadori, 1874 - W & C New Guinea E to Astrolabe Bay and, in S, to Port Moresby district. * clamosa Diamond, 1967 - Karimui area of Chimbu Province (EC New Guinea). * episcopalis E. P. Ramsay, 1878 - E New Guinea E from middle R Sepik and Central Province (Kapa Kapa).
Habitat: 

Variety of habitats, including scrub, secondary growth fringing waterways, forest and woodlands, swamps in forest, inner edges of mangroves, also gardens. Mainly dense low vegetation. Lowlands and hills, locally as high as 1350 m.

Migration: 

Resident.

Trophic strategy: 

Insect, nestling diet includes butterflies and moths. Forages usually within a few meters of the ground. Gleaning 40%, and flycaching 20%.

Reproduction: 

Eggs recorded in late Aug, nestling in Oct, fledglings in mid-Aug and early Oct. Males with enlarged gonads in jul. Nest a small cup of dried rushes and other fine vegetation, lined with rootlets, bound externally with a spider web. With small tail, placed 0.5 m above water level in fork. 2 eggs, white, wit blurred umber-brown and lilac grey sots mostly in wreath near mid-line. 16-19*13-14.5 mm. No info on Incubation and fledgling period.

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