Alternative names: Olive-yellow Flycatcher Sometimes also called Olive Flycatcher which can lead to confusion with Mitrephanes olivaceus.
- Microeca flavovirescens
Identification
13–14 cm 5.1-5.5 inches. 14–17 g.
- Crown, side of head and upperparts dull yellowish green.
- eyering pale yellow.
- retrices and upperwing dark greenish brown.
- Underparts yellow.
- Flanks yellowish green wash.
- Iris dark brown.
- Upper mandible dark blackish brown.
- lower mandible Pale yellow to orange yellow.
- Legs yellow to light brown.
- Sexes similar.
- Juvenile has pale tips of feathers, including upperwing coverts
- Immature similar to adult with wing coverts like juvenile.
Distribution
Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Taxonomy
There are 2 subspecies[1]
- M. f. flavovirescens
- Southern New Guinea (Wassi Kussa to Fly River) and Aru Islands
- M. f. cuicui Upperparts brighter, underparts richer yellow.
- New Guinea, Yapen Island. and West Papuan islands
Habitat
Rainforest, monsoon forest, occasionally teak plantations and nearby open ground; usually in lowlands and lower hills, locally to 1200 m, rarely to 1500 m.
Behaviour
Diet
Insects caught in middle storey to understorey by shortdashes out from branch, aerial flycatching, gleaning and hovering. Occasionally joins mixed flocks for faraging.
Breeding
June to August, egg-laying in southeast New Guinea (Port Moresby lowland) from May to November, and juvenile in early June. This suggests that breeding starts at the end of the wet season and continues throughout the dry season.
Nest consists of a small cup of moss, hair lined and bound up with cobwebs, at 1.5–12 m from ground on parallel branch of an isolated small tree. 2 eggs.
Vocalisation
Songs consists of rapidly falling and rising dissyllabic and repetitive “uliuliuliuliuli”, a quiet whistled note repeated 3 times or more, a reprimanding babble of repeated grating nasal notes, also a rusty “swee”.
Movement
Non migratory.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved October 2015)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Olive Flyrobin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Olive_Flyrobin
