A small ground-dwelling
bird that inhabits wet forest or rainforest, it is insectivorous. The bird has a distinctive yellow throat and eybrow. The male face is black and the female brown. The crown and upperparts are dark- to olive-brown, and the underparts cream, white or washed-out olive. The wings are dark brown and edged with yellow. Breeding twice or more in a long breeding season, it nests in large suspended pear-shaped structures. Often over water, they resemble flood debris which they are often placed nearby. These nests are the preferred roosts of the
Golden-tipped Bat (
Phoniscus papuensis).
Taxonomy
The Yellow-throated Scrubwren was originally described by ornithologist
John Gould in 1838.The specific epithet
citreogularis derived from the
Latin terms
cǐtreus "pertaining to citrus" and
gǔla "throat", hence "yellow throated". The northern subspecies
cairnsii was described by amateur ornithologist
Gregory Mathews in 1912.
Description
The Yellow-throated Scrubwren measures 12.5–15 cm (5-6 in) in length. The male bird has a black masked face and ear coverts, with yellow throat and eyebrow. The iris is reddish and upperparts brownish and underparts paler. The wing primaries are yellow and relatively long legs pinkish or cream. The female has a brownish face. Calls include a loud harsh chatter, and a lively song, the latter can be a response to a loud noise such as a car door slamming.
Distribution and habitat
Insectivorous, they feed at ground level, unlike the related
Large-billed Scrubwren (
S. magnirostris) which lives in the same wet forest habitat but forages higher in the leaf layer and on branches.
Reproduction
Breeding season can extend from June to March, with two or more broods laid in a season. The nest is a large structure of long pieces of dried grasses and leaves, sticks, palm fibre, bark, and ferns and feathers for lining. Pear-shaped, it hangs above the ground or water, suspended from a vine or branch. It may be mistaken for flood debris and is often constructed near it. A clutch of two or three tapered oval 26 x 18 mm eggs is laid; they vary from brownish-purple to pale brownish-white with darker spots or blotches. There is a cap of darker colour at the large end of the eggs.
The nest may be expanded in subsequent years by the birds adding an extra chamber onto it. They also appear to be the preferred daytime roosting sites of the
Golden-tipped Bat (
Phoniscus papuensis).
