Alternative names: Lemon-breasted Berrypecker; Yellow-bellied Berrypecker; Long-tailed Berrypecker
- Melanocharis longicauda
Identification
12.5cm. A small Berrypecker with a medium-length tail.
Male
- Black upperparts with glossed blue-green on mantle and crown
- White base on outer tail feathers (difficult to see in field)
- Pale olive-grey underparts
- Tinged yellow flanks
- Paler and yellower belly
- Pale yellow pectoral tufts
- White underwing-coverts
Female
- Slightly bigger and looking shorter-tailed
- Dull olive-green upperparts
- Brownish tail with wite base on outer tail feathers
- Pale olive-grey underparts with paler chin, yellowish flanks and paler yellow belly
Immatures are similar to females but they have a yellowish lower mandible.
Similar species
Has a longer tail than Black Berrypecker and yellow (not white) pectoral tufts.
Smaller than Fan-tailed Berrypecker, with shorter tail, yellower underparts and yellow (not white) pectoral tufts.
Distribution
Endemic to New Guinea.
Common in some areas, uncommon in others. Easily overlooked.
Taxonomy
Five subspecies recognized:[1]
- M. l. longicauda
- Mountains of north-western New Guinea (Vogelkop and Wandammen Mountains)
- M. l. umbrosa
- North-western New Guinea (slopes above Idenberg River)
- M. l. chloris
- Western New Guinea (Weyland Mountains and southern slopes of Jayawijaya Mountains)
- M. l. captata
- Mountains of central New Guinea (Huon Peninsula and Central Highlands)
- M. l. orientalis
- Mountains of south-eastern New Guinea
Habitat
Forest and secondary growth in mountains. Often in dense shrubs and thickets at forest edge.
Occurs from 700 - 2100m, between Black Berrypecker and Fan-tailed Berrypecker with only little overlap.
Behaviour
Feeds on small berries and spiders, Likely to take insects.
Forages inconspicuously in understorey and middle levels of forest.
Usually seen singly. Seems not to join mixed-species foraging flocks.
Breeding poorly known. Nesting recorded in January, a female in breeding condition in September. One known nest was a neat cup bound to a horizontal ranch fork 7.5 m above the ground.
Presumably a resident species, perhaps some altitudinal dispersal.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2008. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 13: Penduline-tits to Shrikes. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553453
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Mid-mountain Berrypecker. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 17 September 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Mid-mountain_Berrypecker
