Nest
Dome-shaped, rather compact, with a side-entrance and a short tail-piece, composed of bark strips and bound with cobweb, suspended in a mangrove up to 2 meters above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
2, sometimes 3; matt, white spotted with red-brown, particularly at the larger end; oval; about 18 x 12 mm.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fed by both parents.
Subspecies
Possibly a member of the "Western Gerygone (Gerygone fusca) group". Subspecies weakly differentiated. Proposed subspecies whitlocki (Exmouth Gulf east to Cape Keraudren) considered synonymous with christophori.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
tenebrosa (Hall, 1901) - Coastal south-western Kimberley Divide, WA from Brunswick Bay, south to La Grange.
christophori Mathews, 1912 - Coast of Pilbara Divide, central-western WA, from Cape Keraudren, south to northern Shark Bay.
Similar Species
Within range only with Mangrove Gerygone (Gerygone levigaster) which has a red eye and white spot on near tip of each outer tail feather and Large-billed Gerygone (Gerygone magnirostris) which lack a white eye-brow, has a white spot at base of bill, a red eye and faint white spots on the outer tail feathers.
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