Habitat
Mainly rainforests, especially monsoon vine forests, also mangroves, and sometimes in dense riparian vegetation bordering watercourses or other wetlands.
Nest
Dome-shaped, with a side-entrance, composed of grass and fine rootlets, suspended from a twig of a mangove.
Eggs (Guide)
2, usually 3; matt, white, speckled all over with red-brown, often in a zone at the larger end; oval; about 18 x 13 mm. Incubation: about 12 days; mainly by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 10 days. Probably fed by both parents.
Subspecies
Subspecies darwini, possibly intergrading with chloronotus, east to Victoria River.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
chloronota Gould, 1843 - Arnhem Land south to Lower Victoria and Roper River Drainages, and Tiwi Island and Groote Eylandt, NT.
darwini Mathews, 1912 - North-western Kimberley Divide, WA from King Sound to Cambridge Gulf.
cinereiceps (Sharpe, 1886) - Hills and lowlands of mainland New Guinea, and western Papuan Is.
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