Dacelo tyro
Male nominate race head, hindneck and mantle yellow-buff with black margins to feather, back and scapulars balck, rump and UpT-C bright cobalt-blue, tail and wings blue-black, lesser and medisn W-C edged with bright blue, chin and throat white, rest of underparts washed buff to pale orange, upper mandible black, lower mandible pale horn, iris dark brown, lebs and feet grey to yellowish-grey.Juvenile head duskier,underparts with narrow black margins. Race archboldi paler blue wing-coverts, pale underparts.
Not Threatened.
Restricted-range species
Male nominate race head, hindneck and mantle yellow-buff with black margins to feather, back and scapulars balck, rump and UpT-C bright cobalt-blue, tail and wings blue-black, lesser and medisn W-C edged with bright blue, chin and throat white, rest of underparts washed buff to pale orange, upper mandible black, lower mandible pale horn, iris dark brown, lebs and feet grey to yellowish-grey.Juvenile head duskier,underparts with narrow black margins. Race archboldi paler blue wing-coverts, pale underparts.
33 cm, male 128-145 g, female 148-165 g
Taxonomy:
- Dacelo tyro G. R. Gray, 1858, Aru Islands. Has been placed in Melidora, but seems much closer to other Dacelo. In past was sometimes placed in monotypic genus Capricia, or in Sauromarptis along with D. gaudichaud; possibly derived from an ancestor of latter on Aru Is which subsequently reinvaded adjacent mainland. Two subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * tyro G. R. Gray, 1858 - Aru Is. * archboldi (Rand, 1938) - S New Guinea, from R Bian and Habé I to R Wassi Kussa and Dimississi.
Well wooded dry savannah, thickets of Dillenea alata on swamp margins and mosaic of monsoon forest, thicket and Melaleuca savannah woodland, also dense monsoon and riverine forest. Frequents mostly the understorey.
Sedentary,
Insect including beetles, ants and winged ants, and stic-insect. Forages from perch 1-4 m high, with a clear view, patiently seas ground below.