Nest
Cup, small, neat, composed of fine black rootlets, bound with cobweb and decorated with strips of paperbark and lichen, placed in a tee about 10 m above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
2; pale blue speckled and blotched dark brown and grey; long-oval; about 15 x 12 mm.
Young
Probably altricial, nidicolous.
Subspecies
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
griseoceps (De Vis, 1894) - Mountains of south-eastern New Guinea, Herzog Mts and lowlands of southern New Guinea.
kempi Mathews, 1913 - North-eastern Cape York Peninsula, Qld, and possibly in the Trans-Fly of south-central New Guinea.
occidentalis (Rothschild & Hartert, 1903) - New Guinea mountains (Vogelkop and east to Victor Emanuel Range, Sepik Mts and Adelbert Mts).
Similar Species
Lemon-bellied Flycatcher (Microeca flavigaster) which has dark legs and feet, a blackish bill save for a small paler brown, buff or whitish base to the lower mandible, visible only from below, and is generally larger.
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