The northern-eastern coast of Queensland. Vagrant to Northern Territory. Five unconfirmed reports in NSW: Ashfield, July 1886, West Pennant Hills, 1922, Nambucca Heads, November 1992, Bowraville, March 1994 and September 1994, all reports probably referred to escapees.
Voice
Poorly known. Song described as canaray-like, but briefer and more fluty. Sometimes mimics other birds. Other calls include an angry, short, sharp and shrill, 'twee-twee', repeated several times in quick succession.
Nest
Domed or oval-shaped, with a circular opening high on one side, composed of woven vines, tendrills, grass, twigs, rootlets and strips of palm fronds, lined with fine grass, tendrills, strips of paperbark or palm fronds, suspended from upper branch of a tall, smooth-barked tree.
Eggs (Guide)
2 or 3, usually 4; glossy, pale blue- to green-white, freckled with red-brown and purple-grey, particularly at the larger end; oval; about 30 x 21 mm. Incubation: about 21 days.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fed by both sexes.
Subspecies
Genus name sometimes given as Aplornis. Was previously thought to form a superspecies with Long-tailed Starling (Aplonis magna).
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
metallica (Temminck, 1824) - Coastal north-eastern Queensland, north to Torres Strait islands, south to around Repulse Bay, also New Guinea and satellite islands, Aru Island and Moluccas.
circumscripta (A. B. Meyer, 1884) - Eastern Lesser Sundas (Damar and Tanimbar Is).
inornata (Salvadori, 1881) - Numfor and Biak, in northern Geelvink Bay (north-western New Guinea).
nitida (Gray, GR, 1858) - New Britain, New Ireland and Solomon islands.
purpureiceps (Salvadori, 1878) - Admiralty Island, Bismarck Archaepeligo.
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