Ashy Robin (Heteromyias albispecularis) [XC155815]
by Frank Lambert from Arfak Mountains, Indonesia (call)
Ashy Robin (Heteromyias albispecularis) [XC603748]
by id from Arfak Mountain Trek, near Mokwan Village, West Papua >1800m (approx), Indonesia (call)
Nest
Cup-shaped, composed of fine twigs, rootlets and moss, lined with plant fibers, usually in the upright stem of a lawyer vine, from 2 - 5 meters above the ground, sometimes higher.
Eggs (Guide)
1 or 2; cream-buff to pale green marked with brown, particularly in a zone at the larger end; rounded-oval; about 26 x 19 mm. Incubation: 17 - 19 days; by female only.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 11 - 14 days.
Subspecies
Ashy Robin (Heteromyias albispecularis) and Grey-headed Robin (Heteromyias cinereifrons) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Heteromyias albispecularis following Christidis and Boles (1994).
Heteromyias albispecularis (Christidis and Boles 1994) was again split into Ashy Robin (Heteromyias albispecularis) and Grey-headed Robin (Heteromyias cinereifrons) by Christidis and Boles (2008) but this treatment is not followed by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group (BTWG) because the authors overturn Schodde and Mason's (1999) rejection of splitting Australian cinereifrons from New Guinean albispecularis simply on the grounds that another group of birds (the Orthonyx logrunners) have the same distributions but have been split because "external similarities were not good indications of conspecificity". This is not sufficient substantiation for a taxonomic change and the BTWG note that morphological differences are slight.
cinereifrons (Salvadori, 1876) - Rainforests of northern Queensland (Cooktown to Mt. Spec). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Grey-headed Robin (Heteromyias cinereifrons).
rothschildi Hartert, 1930 - Weyland Mts and southern slopes of Snow Mts, in west-central New Guinea.
centralis Rand, 1940 - Northern and central New Guinea: Gauttier Mts, and Wissel Lakes district and northern slopes of central ranges from R Idenburg east to Central Highlands.
armiti (De Vis, 1894) - Herzog Mts and mountains of south-eastern New Guinea. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Black-capped Robin (Heteromyias armiti).
atricapilla Mayr, 1931 - Adelbert Mts and mountains of Huon Peninsula, in north-eastern New Guinea.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet