White-collared Monarch - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Mark Harper
Santa Ana, Solomon Islands, 31 March, 2024

Monarcha viduus

Identification

15 cm. A small, black-and-white monarch with a broad white collar.

Bluish-black head to chin, throat and centre of upper breast
Broadly white neck side and hindneck
Mostly bluish-black upperparts, but rump and uppertail-coverts white and white edges on wings
Black tail with white tips on central tail feathers
White underparts below breast centre
Pale grey or bluish-grey bill
squamulatus has white squamate or pear-shaped ovals on otherwise black lower throat and upper breast

Sexes similar, juveniles have brown or grey-brown head and upperparts and mostly rufous underparts.

Endemic to San Cristobal and Ugi in the southern Solomon Islands.
Fairly common to common in its small range.

Clements regards this species as monotypic, other authorities recognize two subspecies:

Formerly placed in genus Monarcha.

Found in primary forest and tall secondary forest.
Occurs from sea-level up to mountains, at least to 800 m.

Often helds its tail raised.

Feeds on insects.
Forages singly, in pairs or in mixed-species flocks.

No information.

This is a resident species.

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 D Christie, eds. 2006. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553064

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) White-collared Monarch. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 13 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/White-collared_Monarch

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