Alternative names: Mid-mountain Eupetes; Mid-mountain Rail-babbler; Mid-mountain Jewel-babbler; Chestnut-backed Scrub-thrush
- Ptilorrhoa castanonota
Identification
22 - 24cm
- Reddish-brown crown
- Chestnut mantle and upper back
- Blue stripe above eye continuing to blue underparts
- Black stripe through eye, continuing to upper breast and forming a boarder between blue underparts and white throat
- White chin and throat
- Blue wings and tail, underwing blackish-blue
- Dark legs, bill and eye
The chestnut extends in females to the rump. Females of pulchra have a narrow white supercilium and no blue in face.
Distribution
Endemic to New Guinea.
Fairly common but seldom seen.
Taxonomy
There are 7 subspecies:
- P. c. gilliardi on Batanta Island
- P. c. castanonota on Vogelkop
- P. c. saturata in Nassau Mountains
- P. c. uropygialis on slopes of Oranje Mountains and central North Coast Range
- P. c. buergersi in Sepik Mountains, Adelbert Mountains and probably Finisterre Mountains
- P. c. par in Saruwaged Mountains in Huon Peninsula
- P. c. pulchra from Herzog Mountains and Mount Karimui east to Owen Stanley Range
Several newly discovered populations are not yet assigned to a subspecies and may represent other subspecies.
Habitat
Moist montanes and lowland forests. Occurs at 300 - 1450m, locally up to 1580m.
Behaviour
Feeds on insects, probably also on small frogs.
Terrestrial. Forages on the ground. Shy and elusive, more often heard than seen.
Breeding probably during dry season and early wet season. The nest is a open cup made of old leaves and leaf skeletons. Lays 1 or 2 eggs.
Probably a resident species.
References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2007. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553422
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Chestnut-backed Jewel-babbler. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 15 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Chestnut-backed_Jewel-babbler
