>>Genus Gerygone

Gerygone

Gerygones
Fairy Gerygone Gerygone palpebrosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Acanthizidae
Genus:	Gerygone Gould, 1841
Species
Nearly 20, see list

Gerygone, the gerygones or peep-warblers, is a genus of bird in the Acanthizidae family. The genus ranges from South East Asia through New Guinea and Australia to New Zealand and theChatham Islands. Most of the species are found in Australia and New Guinea; only one, the Golden-bellied Gerygone, has managed to cross Wallace's Line and colonise as far as Thailand, Malaysiaand the Philippines.

Gerygones are insectivores which obtain most of their food by gleaning and snatching in the foliage of trees and bushes. They are small, mostly weighing an average of 6–7 g, and show little variation in size across their range, except for the insular Chatham Gerygone, which is nearly twice as large as the rest of the genus.

Their songs are described as "simple but delightful", many descending in pitch, and some species are excellent mimics. "Gerygone" means "born of sound" (Magrath 2003).

The genus contains the following species:

• Chatham Gerygone, Gerygone albofrontata
• Green-backed Gerygone, Gerygone chloronota
• Yellow-bellied Gerygone, Gerygone chrysogaster
• Ashy Gerygone, Gerygone cinerea
• Rufous-sided Gerygone, Gerygone dorsalis
• Fan-tailed Gerygone, Gerygone flavolateralis
• Western Gerygone, Gerygone fusca
• Grey Gerygone, Gerygone igata
• Plain Gerygone, Gerygone inornata
• Lord Howe Gerygone, Gerygone insularis – extinct (c.1930)
• Mangrove Gerygone, Gerygone levigaster
• Norfolk Gerygone, Gerygone modesta
• White-throated Gerygone, Gerygone olivacea
• Fairy Gerygone, Gerygone palpebrosa
• Brown-breasted Gerygone, Gerygone ruficollis
• Golden-bellied Gerygone, Gerygone sulphurea
• Dusky Gerygone, Gerygone tenebrosa
• Brown Gerygone, Gerygone mouki
• Large-billed Gerygone, Gerygone magnirostris
  • Biak Gerygone, Gerygone magnirostris hypoxantha