Alternative name: White-backed Woodswallow; Hooded Woodswallow; Celebes Woodswallow
- Artamus monachus
Identification
19 - 20cm.
- head and throat brownish-grey
- chin and lores black
- wings and tail blackish-grey
- rest of plumage including mantle white
- eye dark brown
- bill pale blue-grey with black tip
Sexes similar. Juveniles not yet described.
Similar species
White-breasted Woodswallow has dark-grey mantle and upperparts. Bismarck Woodswallow is darker and more contrasting and ranges don't overlap.
Distribution
Only found on Sulawesi, Lembeh, Banggai Islands and the Sula Archipelago in Indonesia.
Patchily distributed but locally common. Rarer than sympatric White-breasted Woodswallow.
Taxonomy
Monotypic.
Forms a superspecies with Bismarck Woodswallow and Great Woodswallow (and possibly Fiji Woodswallow and White-breasted Woodswallow).
Habitat
Forest, openings and forest edges. Occurs from 200 - 2000m. Generally in more heavily wooded ares than White-breasted Woodswallow.
Behaviour
Feeds on insects. Soars and hawks over the canopy in groups of up to 20 birds.
One nest was recorded in late July in a tree. No other information about breeding.
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. (2023) Ivory-backed Woodswallow. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 1 December 2023 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Ivory-backed_Woodswallow
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
