Plumage coloration variable; some accounts refer to distinct colour morphs, but variation in coloration appears to be continuous between the extremes. General colour of male´s upperparts ranges from dull grey- brown (often with intricate marbling and streaking) to deep rufous (often with very little marbling and few dark spots and streaks); underparts also variable, but most often with irregular whitish barring and longitudinal streaks of dark brown and blackish. Distinguished from P. strigoides most reliably by longer tail and different vocalizations; P. papuensis is much larger with different song. Female often darker than male, but not always separable. Juvenile not well described, but reported as rufous- brown, faintly barred white and tipped dusky on head and underparts, faintly barred dusky on back and mantle. Races differ mostly in size and details of coloration; inexpectatus is the most distinctive, with finer dark markings on upperparts and clear white spots on wing- coverts.
Not Threatened.
Plumage coloration variable; some accounts refer to distinct colour morphs, but variation in coloration appears to be continuous between the extremes. General colour of male´s upperparts ranges from dull grey- brown (often with intricate marbling and streaking) to deep rufous (often with very little marbling and few dark spots and streaks); underparts also variable, but most often with irregular whitish barring and longitudinal streaks of dark brown and blackish. Distinguished from P. strigoides most reliably by longer tail and different vocalizations; P. papuensis is much larger with different song. Female often darker than male, but not always separable. Juvenile not well described, but reported as rufous- brown, faintly barred white and tipped dusky on head and underparts, faintly barred dusky on back and mantle. Races differ mostly in size and details of coloration; inexpectatus is the most distinctive, with finer dark markings on upperparts and clear white spots on wing- coverts.
VOICE: Highly vocal; frequently calls from perch in tree. Territorial song consists of phrase of 4 - 7 “coo-loo” units repeated in quick succession; threat call a quick series of gobbling units that often terminate with loud, mechanical bill- snap.
37 - 48 cm; 132 - 180 g (ocellatus)
Taxonomy:
- Podargus ocellatus Quoy and Gaimard, 1830, Manokwari, New Guinea. Plumage coloration and rainforest habitat differ from those of congeners, and may suggest some distant affinity with Batrachostomus; although these similarities may be at least partly due to convergent evolution; race inexpectatus of Solomon Is shows strong superficial resemblance to Batrachostomus auritus, although differs in structural details and lacks white hindneck-collar. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * ocellatus Quoy & Gaimard, 1830 - New Guinea, Aru Is, W Papuan Is and islands in Geelvink Bay. * intermedius Hartert, 1895 - Trobriand Is and D’Entrecasteaux Is. * meeki Hartert, 1898 - Tagula I (Louisiade Archipelago). * inexpectatus Hartert, 1901 - N Solomon Is (Bougainville, Choiseul, Santa Isabel). * marmoratus Gould, 1855 - Cape York Peninsula (N Queensland). * plumiferus Gould, 1846 - coastal E Australia from SE Queensland to NE New South Wales.
Humid forest; in adition to rainforest, also occurs at forest edge, and in tall secondary forest and vine forest. Two unusual records of race plumiferus inside 20- year- old monocultures of hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii). Mainly in lowlands, but recorded up to 800 m in Australia and to 1500 m in New Guinea.
Diet consists mainly of large insects such as beetles and grasshoppers, with a single report of a frog being eaten. Hunts by hawking from prominent perch, typically within several metres of ground in forest substage, taking prey on the ground, foliage, branch or tree trunk after a shallow, diving glide; prey captured in bill. Large or hard items may be carried back to perch and battered vigorously before being eaten.