Habitat
Subtropical and tropical lowland moist forest and mangroves and most savanna. Also subtropical and tropical dry forest, lowland moist shrubland, swamp forest and urban areas.
In Qld, margins of rainforests, monsoon forests, vine thickets, mangroves, eucalypt woodlands. In NT, sandstone escarpments.
Two distinct groups: one in western Arnhemland, Melville Island and nearby coast of the North Territory and the other north-eastern Queensland, from Cape York south to about Mackay. Also Indonesia and New Guinea.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Voice
Varied, including harsh cackles, squawks and clanking. Some notes quite musical, but usually mixed with harsh sounds, 'warruk, kuk-kauwww, warruk-kuk-kaoww', 'kaowww-kuk, kaowww-kuk-'. Also a higher 'kewik, kewik'.
Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides) [XC367908]
by James Lambert from Kakadu, West Arnhem Shire, Northern Territory, Australia (call)
Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides) [XC679767]
by James Lambert from Charles Darwin University, Darwin Municipality, Northern Territory, Australia (call)
Nest
A large, untidy, cup composed of grass, rootlets and strips of bark, closely woven, and lined with fine grass and rootlets, usually slung from the rim in a horizontal fork amid foliage, usually 10 m or more above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
1 - 5, usually 2 or 3; cream to light pink, closely freckled and blotched with red-brown, purple-red and lilac-grey; tapered-oval; about 34 x 23 mm. Incubation: about 17 - 19 days; by female.
Young
Fledge in about 15 days.
Subspecies
Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides) and Papuan Friarbird (Philemon novaeguineae) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993), cross-regional species, are treated as seperate species by BirdLife International, whereas Christidis and Boles (1994) include novaeguineae as a subspecies of buceroides.
In northern Australia, subspecies gordoni and ammitophilus occupy different habitats and appear to be allopatric; possibly represent two separate species.
Other proposed subspecies are sumbanus (from Sumba, in Lesser Sundas) and plesseni (Lomblen, in Lesser Sundas), both merged with neglectus; pallidiceps (Wetar, in Lesser Sundas), synonymized with nominate; brevipennis (Utakwa R, in southern New Guinea), fretensis (Hall Sound, in south-eastern New Guinea) and trivialis (Collingwood Bay, on northern coast of south-eastern New Guinea), all subsumed in novaeguineae; and, in Australia, confusus (from Cairns, in northern Queensland), treated as synonym of yorki.
The following 10 subspecies are recognised:
neglectus (Büttikofer, 1891) - Lombok, Sumbawa, Moyo, Sangeang, Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Besar, Adonara, Lomblen, Pantar, Alor and Sumba, in Lesser Sundas.
buceroides (Swainson, 1838) - Sawu, Roti, Semau, Timor, Atauro and Wetar, in eastern Lesser Sundas.
gordoni Mathews, 1912 - Northern Northern Territory (Tiwi Is and coastal Arnhem Land), in northern Australia.
ammitophilus Schodde, Mason, IJ & McKean, 1979 - Subcoastal sandstone plateaux of Arnhem Land (south to Katherine Gorge and Mataranka), in northern Territory.
novaeguineae (S. Müller, 1843) - New Guinea. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Papuan Friarbird (Philemon novaeguineae).
jobiensis (A. B. Meyer, 1874) - Yapen I (in Geelvink Bay) and northern New Guinea from Mamberamo R east to southern coastal Huon Gulf (around Salamaua). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Papuan Friarbird (Philemon novaeguineae).
aruensis (A. B. Meyer, 1884) - Aru Is. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Papuan Friarbird (Philemon novaeguineae).
subtuberosus E. J. O. Hartert, 1896 - Trobriand Is (Kaileuna, Kiriwina and Kitava) and D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago (Goodenough, Fergusson and Normanby), off south-eastern New Guinea. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Papuan Friarbird (Philemon novaeguineae).
tagulanus Rothschild and E. J. O. Hartert, 1918 -
Tagula I, in Louisiade Archipelago (off south-eastern New Guinea). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Papuan Friarbird (Philemon novaeguineae).
yorki Mathews, 1912 - Islands in central-western and southern Torres Strait, and coastal north-eastern Queensland (south to Weipa, on western Cape York Peninsula, and, in east, to Broad Sound, including some offshore islands), in north-eastern Australia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Hornbill Friarbird (Philemon yorki).
Similar Species
Noisy Friarbird (Philemon corniculatus) which has a bear crown, nape upper hindneck and upper foreneck, has a rounded bill casque, is generally much paler and has a white-tipped tail and Silver-crowned Friarbird (Philemon argenticeps) which has less bare skin on the face and a rounded bill casque.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet