Photo © by Joseph Morlan
Klablim, Sorong City, West Papua, Indonesia, 22 November 2023.
Alternative name: Black-capped Koel
- Microdynamis parva
Identification
20-22cm.
Male
- Brown upperparts
- Glossy black crown and malar streak
- White stripe below eye
- Rich buff to buffy-white underparts
- Red eyes
- Black bill
- grisescens is much greyer above and on belly and has a rufous-brown breast
Female
- More grey-brown
- Whitish stripe below eye
- Grey throat
- Red or hazel eye
Juveniles are similar to adult females with some indistinctive barring.
Similar species
Females can be confused with Long-billed Cuckoo, but latter has a much longer bill, lacks the white stripe below the eye and has a blacker head and paler underparts. Asian Koel has similar calls but looks completely different.
Distribution
New Guinea and some surrounding islands.
Widespread and fairly common in its range.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
This is a polytypic species[1].
- M. p. grisescens:
- Northern New Guinea (Humboldt Bay to Kumusi River)
- M. p. parva:
- Locally in southern New Guinea and D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago
Some authorities also recognize poecilocercus[3] .
Habitat
Occurs in monsoon forest, forest eges, secondary and gallery forest and in gardens with tall shade trees.
Found from lowlands up to 1450m.
Behaviour
A rarely seen and poorly known species.
Diet
Feeds presumably entirely on fruits.
Forags in subcanopy or canopy. Usually seen in pairs or solitary.
Breeding
Not much known. Presumably a brood parasite.
Movements
Presumably a resident species. However, it has been recorded on Babar, in the Lesser Sundas and on Dauan Island in the Torres Strait.
References
- Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and J Sargatal, eds. 1997. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334221
- Avibase
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Dwarf Koel. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 28 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Dwarf_Koel
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
