Australia (B), Indonesia (B), Papua New Guinea (B).
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Status LC
Subspecies Gerygone magnirostris hypoxantha is threatened as a result of habitat destruction on Biak.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Habits
Singly or in twos, occasionally in groups of three or four.
Food
Insects.
Voice
A descending, lilting, reel, with each set of three to four notes flicking up at the end, and then falls again.
Large-billed Gerygone (Gerygone magnirostris) [XC582480]
by William Goulding from Waam, Wasur NP, Indonesia (song)
Large-billed Gerygone (Gerygone magnirostris) [XC265235]
by Krzysztof Deoniziak from Daintree, Queensland, Australia (song)
Nest
Dome-shaped, with a hooded side-entrance, composed of fine bark and fiber.
Eggs (Guide)
2 or 3; matt, pale pink, freckled, spotted and blotched with red and sometimes purple-grey, often in an indistinct zone at the larger end; oval; about 17 x 12 mm. Incubation: 12 - 14 days; probably by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 10 - 14 days. Probably fed by both parents.
Subspecies
Biak Gerygone (Gerygone hypoxantha), treated as a species in Collar and Andrew (1988) and subsequently, is now considered a subspecies of Large-billed Gerygone (Gerygone magnirostris) following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).
Often considered conspecific with Biak Gerygone (Gerygone hypoxantha).
Proposed subspecies mimikae (southern New Guinea from Onin Bay east to Port Moresby) synonymized with brunneipectus.
The following 12 subspecies are recognised:
cobana Gould, 1843 - West Papuan Is (Waigeo I, Batanta I, Salawati I).
occasa Ripley, 1957 - Kofiau I (west-central West Papuan Is).
conspicillata (Gray, GR, 1859) - North-western New Guinea (Vogelkop region).
affinis Meyer, AB, 1874 - Northern New Guinea (including islands of Yapen, Manam and Karkar).
brunneipectus (Sharpe, 1879) - Southern New Guinea and islands in northern Torres Strait (Boigu, Saibai).
proxima Rothschild and E. J. O. Hartert, 1918 - D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago (Goodenough I, Fergusson I), off south-eastern New Guinea.
onerosa E. J. O. Hartert, 1899 - Misima I (Louisiade Archipelago), Seast of D'Entrecasteaux Group.
tagulana Rothschild and E. J. O. Hartert, 1918 - Tagula I (Louisiade Archipelago).
rosseliana Hartert, 1899 - Rossel I (Louisiade Archipelago).
cairnsensis Mathews, 1912 - Islands of southern Torres Strait, and north-eastern Australia (Cape York Peninsula south to Mitchell drainage in western and to Mackay in east).
magnirostris Gould, 1843 - Coasts of northern western Australia (Napier-Broome Bay south to Collier Bay) and northern Northern Territory (south to Daly R and Roper R), including Tiwi Is and Groote Eylandt.
mimikae Ogilvie-Grant, 1915 - Southern New Guinea (Onin Peninsula to Port Moresby area).
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