Mangrove Gerygone (Gerygone levigaster) [XC140355]
by Bas van Balen from Serayu Island, Freeport, Papua, Indonesia (song)
Mangrove Gerygone (Gerygone levigaster) [XC521685]
by Colin Reid from Karumba, Carpentaria Shire, Queensland, Australia (song)
Nest
Dome-shaped, with a hooded entrance, composed of fine grass-stalks and similar materials, suspended from a thin branch, often near a nest of wasps.
Eggs (Guide)
2 or 3; matt, warm white to pink-buff, densely speckled red-brown, often in a zone at the larger end; oval; about 17 x 12 mm. Incubation: about 12 days; probably by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 14 - 17 days. Fed by both parents.
Subspecies
Probably forms a species group with Fan-tailed Gerygone (Gerygone flavolateralis) and Western Gerygone (Gerygone fusca), and in past sometimes treated as conspecific with Western Gerygone (Gerygone fusca). Has been thought to be related to Golden-bellied Gerygone (Gerygone sulphurea). Was considered possibly conspecific with Plain Gerygone (Gerygone inornata). In past, sometimes considered to include extinct Lord Howe Gerygone (Gerygone insularis) (Lord Howe I) as a subspecies.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
levigaster Gould, 1843 - Coastal northern Australia from south-western Kimberley Divide at the north-western edge of the Great Sandy Desert, WA, east through NT to Cape York Peninsula.
cantator (Weatherill, 1908) - Coastal eastern Australia from Cleveland Bay, north-eastern Qld, south to the Sydney region.
pallida Finsch, 1898 - Coastal southern New Guinea from Triton Bay and R Mimika east to Port Moresby region.
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