Papuan Spinetail (Mearnsia novaeguineae)

Other Names (World)
Papuan Spinetail, Papuan Needletailed Swift, Papuan Needletail, New Guinea Spinetail, New Guinea Spinetailed Swift, New Guinea Needletail, Grey-bellied Needletail, Gray-bellied Needletail, Papuan Spine-tailed Swift, Papuan Spinetailed Swift

Family
Apodidae (Swifts)

Size
11.50 cm

First Described (Guide)
(D'Albertis & Salvadori, 1879)

Habitat
Forest edges, gardens and cleared areas with standing dead trees.

Range (Guide)

Indonesia (B), Papua New Guinea (B).

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Food
Flying insects.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (1)...)

Papuan Spine-tailed Swift (Mearnsia novaeguineae) [XC413093]
by Iain Woxvold from Waropko, Kabupaten Boven Digoel, Papua, Indonesia (flight call)

Papuan Spine-tailed Swift (Mearnsia novaeguineae) [XC413092]
by Philippe Verbelen from Waropko, Kabupaten Boven Digoel, Papua, Indonesia (flight call)

Nest
In a hollow of a tree.

Subspecies
Proposed subspecies mamberana, known from mouth of Mamberano R, nowadays included in buergersi.

The following 2 subspecies are recognised:

buergersi (Reichenow, 1917) - Northern New Guinea.
novaeguineae (D'Albertis & Salvadori, 1879) - Southern and south-eastern New Guinea.

References
See References.

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
A Field Guide to the Birds of South-east Asia Robson, C., 2000, New Holland ISBN 1 84330 118 0

Files:

JPG files for Papuan Spinetail (Mearnsia novaeguineae) - 4 files

More Information

BirdLife International

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