• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Where premium quality meets exceptional value. ZEISS Conquest HDX.

Smoky Robin - BirdForum Opus

Subspecies cryptoleuca
Photo by mehdhalaouate
Arfak mountains, Vogelkop, Papua, Indonesia, September 2014

Alternative names: Grey Robin; Grey Thicket-flycatcher

Peneothello cryptoleuca

Melanodryas cryptoleuca

Identification

14.5 cm.

  • Blue-grey crown
  • Sooty grey upperparts, black upperwing and tail
  • Pale slate-grey underparts
  • Small white patch on underwing
  • Dark brown eye
  • Black bill and legs
  • albidior with paler, more greyish-white belly
  • maxima is larger, has entirely whitish underparts and grey and white axillaries

Sexes similar. Juveniles undescribed.

Distribution

Endemic to western New Guinea, Indonesia.
A poorly known restricted-range species.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Three subspecies recognized:

  • P. c. cryptoleuca in northwestern New Guinea (Tamrau and Arfak mountains)
  • P. c. albidior in Weyland, Gauttier and Nassau mountains, New Guinea
  • P. c. maxima in western New Guinea (Kumawa Mountains)

Forms a superspecies with Blue-grey Robin.

Habitat

Moist montanes., thickets and forest edge.
Occurs at 1400 to 2500 m.
Where Blue-grey Robin occurs too, the two species have exclusive altitudinal ranges, Smoky Robin occupying higher levels.

Behaviour

Diet

Feeds on insects. Forages in the undergrowth near the ground.

Breeding

Juveniles with adults seen in January and February. No other information.

Movements

Presumably a sedentary species.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. 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

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1

Back
Top