- Hemiprocne mystacea
Identification
Length: 28-30 cm (11-11¾ in)
Male
- Mostly gray with chestnut ear coverts
- Belly and undertail coverts white
- Long white supercilium
- Long white mustache stripe
- Blackish crown, wings and tail
- White secondaries and underwing stripe
Female is similar to male but lacks the chestnut ear coverts. Juvenile is heavily mottled with rufous.
Distribution
In Indonesia on West Papua and the Moluccas, on Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.
Taxonomy
This is a polytypic species. Six subspecies recognized[1]:
- H.m. confirmata from the Moluccas to Aru Islands
- H.m. mystacea on New Guinea and some adjacent islands
- H.m. aeroplanes on most of the Bismarck Archipelago
- H.m. macrura on Admirality Islands
- H.m. woodfordiana on most of the Solomon Islands and Feni Island. Also on Bougainville
- H.m. carbonaria on Bauro Island in the Solomons.
Habitat
Moist lowland forest, mangrove forest, beach-strand woodland, scattered trees and edge of inland forest (prefering gallery forest n savannas).
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on insects (bees, ants, bugs and beetles). Like the other Treeswifts it forages from an exposed perch. Makes long sorties, sometimes well over the canopy, usually returning to the same perch.
Breeding
Breeds all year, only from March there are no nest records. Pairs are believed to be territorial. Nest is a tiny saucer, fixed on the top of a high branch. Lays 1 egg.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Chantler, P., & Driessens, G. (1995) Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World. Pica Press.
- Gregory, P. (2017) Birds of New Guinea, Including Bismarck Archipelago and Boughainville. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
- Wells, D. & Kirwan, G.M. (2019). Moustached Treeswift (Hemiprocne mystacea). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/55345 on 6 November 2019).
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Moustached Treeswift. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 12 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Moustached_Treeswift
