Alternative name: White-throated Butcherbird
- Cracticus mentalis
Identification
25 - 28cm. A small, white-throated pied Butcherbird:
- Black top and side of head and neck
- White chin and throat sharply demarcated from black
- Black upperparts separated from black of head by white collar (broken in upper mantle)
- Grey rump
- Black tail with white tip
- Black upperwing with lots of white on scapulars, secondaries and primaries
- White underside
- Brown eye
- Pale-blue grey bill with black tip
Sexes similar. Juveniles are similar but black areas of adults are dark brown in juveniles, hood and mantle are buff streaked, underparts brown-tinged.
Similar species
Similar to Silver-backed Butcherbird and Grey Butcherbird but upperparts black (not grey or greyish) and more white in wing.
Distribution
New Guinea and Queensland, Australia.
Uncommon to locally common.
Taxonomy
Subspecies[1]
This species has two subspecies:
- C. m. mentalis:
- Savanna of south-eastern New Guinea (Merauke to Port Moresby)
- C. m. kempi:
- Northern Queensland (Cape York Peninsula)
Forms a superspecies with Grey Butcherbird and Silver-backed Butcherbird and has sometimes been placed in genus Bulestes.
Habitat
Open forest and tropical savanna woodland. Also found in plantations, gardens and rural towns. Occurs up to 600m in New Guinea.
Behaviour
Feeds mainly on insects but takes also some small invertebrates (like lizards) and seeds. Also recorded killing and eating birds and their nestlings.
Feeds by pouncing and snatching after perching for a long time motionless.
A territorial species. Breeding recorded from August to April in New Guinea. The nest is a shallow bowl made of sticks and placed 10 - 20m above the ground in a tree. Lays 2 - 3 eggs. Adult birds defend their nest very aggressively.
A sedentary species.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-backed Butcherbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 October 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-backed_Butcherbird
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
