Black-browed Triller Lalage atrovirens Scientific name definitions

Taxonomic note: Lump. This account is a combination of multiple species accounts originally published in HBW Alive. That content has been combined and labeled here at the subspecies level. Moving forward we will create a more unified account for this parent taxon. Please consider contributing your expertise to update this account.

Black-browed Triller (Black-browed)

18–19 cm; 31·5–34·5 g. Male has forehead to nape, lores, upper ear-coverts and upperparts black, glossed blue-green; rump white, uppertail-coverts barred black and white; upperwing-coverts black, median and greater coverts broadly tipped white, innermost greater coverts also margined white; alula, primary-coverts and remiges black, tertials broadly edged white; rectrices black, edged greenish, outermost tipped white; lower ear-coverts, cheeks, neck-sides, throat and entire underparts , including axillaries and underwing-coverts, pure white; iris dark brown; bill black, legs dark grey. Differs from L. conjuncta in having more black on greater wing-coverts, no chestnut on lower underparts, no black on thighs; from L. sueurii in having less white in wing, no white supercilium. Female is like male, but duller, upperparts dark grey to black, with less gloss, chin and throat white, breast and flanks finely barred black. Juvenile undescribed; immature resembles female.

Black-browed Triller (Biak)

18–19 cm. Adult male has largely black upperparts with very extensive white in wing, covering median and most of greater coverts (except innermost), tertials and some inner secondaries, and clean white underparts . Adult female differs from male in having slightly less extensive white in wing, especially on tertials and secondaries, and greyer-black crown, nape, mantle and scapulars. Compared to formerly conspecific L. atrovirens, male has black hood extending over entire cheeks and ear-coverts, a single very large white patch in wing and a black rump, while female is unbarred ventrally.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Black-browed Triller (Black-browed)

Black-browed Triller (Biak)

Black-browed Triller (Black-browed)

West Papuan Is (Kofiau, Waigeo, Salawati, Misool), and N New Guinea from Vogelkop and Bomberai Peninsula E to region of Sepik R and Ramu R and N slope of the Huon Peninsula.

Black-browed Triller (Biak)

Biak I, in Geelvink Bay.

Black-browed Triller (Black-browed)

Forest, forest edge, low open forest, secondary growth, scrub, gardens, partly cleared areas, mangroves and sparse littoral woodland; more often in secondary or light forest, or at forest edges, than in primary or tall forest. Mostly lowlands, but in New Guinea locally to 1400 m.

Black-browed Triller (Biak)

Black-browed Triller (Black-browed)

None recorded.

Black-browed Triller (Biak)

Black-browed Triller (Black-browed)

Eats fruit and arthropods. Forages singly, in pairs or in small parties; sometimes recorded in mixed-species flocks. Forages in canopy and middle storey, especially at openings, taking small fruits and gleaning from leaves.

Black-browed Triller (Biak)

No published information, but diet and foraging behaviour are presumably very similar, if not identical, to those of L. atrovirens.

Black-browed Triller (Black-browed)

One song comprises sweet, rapidly repeated upslurred “twee” whistles  ; also has a “see o seet weo”, repeated five or six times. Pair-members counter-sing with sweet “tewhit tewheet wheetu”; also 5–7 notes “reminiscent of laughter”.

Black-browed Triller (Biak)

Song recently described as being distinct from formerly conspecific L. atrovirens, namely a series of loud, medium-pitched, clear, two-noted whistles at a rate of c. 1 phrase/second, e.g. “whir-whee! whir-whee! whir-whee!”, which achieves a bubbling quality with increasing excitement.

Black-browed Triller (Black-browed)

Juvenile seen in mid-Jun in New Guinea. No other information.

Black-browed Triller (Biak)

Black-browed Triller (Black-browed)

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Status not well known, but regarded as fairly common on mainland New Guinea. Might also occur on Yapen I.

Black-browed Triller (Biak)

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. Restricted-range species: confined to the Geelvink Islands EBA. The species is reported to be widespread on Biak I, with a probably declining population estimated at fewer than 20,000 mature individuals. Forest on Biak is under heavy pressure from logging and subsistence farming, but it has been suggested that large-scale logging may no longer be economically feasible there.