Zosterops fuscicapilla
Male nominate race has forehead, lores and a streak under eyering black, black extending over anterior part of crown and merging with green nape; eyering white, rether narrow, broken at front by black spot; upperparts dark yellowish olive-green, rump yellower; wingtips and tail dusky brownish; throat and underparts yellowish olive green, becoming almost pure lomon-yellow on centre of belly and undertail-coverts; iris reddish-brown to dark brown; bill dark grey to blackish, basal half of lower mandible light grey; legs grey. Female is like male but on average duller, less yelowish. Juvenile has orange bill, lacks dark on face, has paler yellow flenks. Race crookshanki differs strikingly from nominate in having olive head like back, with black confined to a spot on lores, wider eyering, less yellow-toned underports, and vary greenish undertail-coverts.
Not Threatened
Male nominate race has forehead, lores and a streak under eyering black, black extending over anterior part of crown and merging with green nape; eyering white, rether narrow, broken at front by black spot; upperparts dark yellowish olive-green, rump yellower; wingtips and tail dusky brownish; throat and underparts yellowish olive green, becoming almost pure lomon-yellow on centre of belly and undertail-coverts; iris reddish-brown to dark brown; bill dark grey to blackish, basal half of lower mandible light grey; legs grey. Female is like male but on average duller, less yelowish. Juvenile has orange bill, lacks dark on face, has paler yellow flenks. Race crookshanki differs strikingly from nominate in having olive head like back, with black confined to a spot on lores, wider eyering, less yellow-toned underports, and vary greenish undertail-coverts.
9.5-11 cm; 10.8 g
Taxonomy: Zosterops fuscicapilla Salvadori, 1876, Arfak Mountains, New Guinea.Sometimes treated as conspecific with Z. hypoxanthus; indeed, nominate race is strikingly similar to latter species, and may perhaps be an older offshoot of the "Z. atrifrons group". Races sometimes treated as two separate species. Two subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * fuscicapilla Salvadori, 1876 - mountains of W & C New Guinea (Tamrau, Arfak, Fakfak, Wandammen Mts, Foja Mts, W Central Ranges, Cyclops Mts and N Coastal Range). * crookshanki Mayr & Rand, 1935 - Goodenough I (d'Entrecasteaux Is).
Montane forest, second growth, isolated shrubs in mid-mountain grasslands (e.g. in highly cultivated Baliem Vally), abandoned cultivation and bushes in native gardens. Mainly between 1200 m and 1850 m, but to at least 2500 m in W and 2600 m in E, and as low as 750m in C parts of N Coastal Range. Marginal altitudinal overlap with ecological counterpart Z. atrifrons, which replaces present species at lower altitudes.
Fruit and insects. Gregarious. Moves about among twigs and branches in canopy and middle storey in relatively compact, quickly moving noisy flocks of up to several dozen individuals, or in mixed-species flocks with e.g. Mountain Gerygone and Tit Berrypecker. Sometimes in treetop flocks of considerable size. Occasionally in pairs.
Dec. Nest a basin-shaped, slightly oval structure composed mainly of dried stems of plants, lightly woven, and partly covered externally with green moss together with pieces of sofy greenish-gold down-like substance (arthropod silk), internal dimensions 30 x 40 x 50 mm; one nest was suspended from thin horizontal stems of bamboo leaves in clump of garden bamboo. Nest containing single nestling found. No other information.