The Bougainville fantail (''Rhipidura drownei''), formerly the brown fantail, is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Rhipiduridae The family Rhipiduridae are small insectivorous birds of Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent that includes the fantails and silktails. Taxonomy and systematics The family contains 55 species which are divided into four genera ...

. It is endemic of

Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (; Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area is . The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at . The much smaller Buk ...

in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

. It was formerly considered to be

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

with the

Guadalcanal fantail The Guadalcanal fantail (''Rhipidura ocularis'') is a species of bird in the family Rhipiduridae. It is endemic to the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. It was formerly considered as a subspecies of the brown fantail (now the Bougainv ...

Description

It is a small bird from 9-10 up to 14 cm long) dark bird with a long tail, which it often spreads like a fan. The main color of the plumage is brown, which is reflected in the former English name of this species. Upperparts - greyish-brown, underparts somewhat lighter, gray with an ocher tint and a faint white streak. The wings are brown above, the tail is light brown. The chest and head are greyish. On the head above the eye - a white stripe - "eyebrow" : photos, description, range map Sometimes there is also a light strip under the eye.

Iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (given name), a feminine given name, and a list of peopl ...

is dark brown. The beak is black or greyish brown, with a paler base underneath. The neck is whitish-gray. Legs are brownish gray. Males and females are rather similar, but females are somewhat smaller. Juveniles are also similar to adults, but their plumage is duller and lacks the white markings on the head and throat; the rufous color on the wings and tail is paler. The voice is like a weak but piercing ringing whistle.

Distribution and habitat

The Bougainville fantail inhabits mountain forests at an altitude of more than 700 meters above sea level (adults are usually above 900 m) and at least up to 1600 m..

Behaviour

Food and feeding

It feeds on all tiers of the forest, catching insects on the fly or looking them out from the foliage. It may join mixed-species flocks for foraging.

Breeding

The nest is small cup-shaped with a very small hanging tail. All the construction is entwined with cobwebs. It is built at a height of about 2 m above the ground in a fork of a horizontal branch.

References

Bougainville fantail The Bougainville fantail (''Rhipidura drownei''), formerly the brown fantail, is a species of bird in the family Rhipiduridae. It is endemic of Bougainville Island in the Solomon Islands. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the Guad ...

Birds of Bougainville Island

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic birds of Papua New Guinea {{Rhipiduridae-stub