Brown Sicklebill Epimachus meyeri Scientific name definitions

Male 49 cm (96 cm including central rectrices), 144–310 g; female 52 cm, 140–202 g. Large paradisaeid with long, sickle-shaped bill and long, graduated tail with greatly elongated sabre-shaped central rectri­ces. Male nominate race has entire head black, in certain lights scale-like feathers of crown and face showing metallic green-blue iridescence with purple and/or magenta washes, chin, throat and entire neck black with iridescent magenta feather tipping; black above, mantle and back with green-blue and/or magenta sheens, modified large scale-like central back feathers highly iridescent metallic blue-green, rump with purple or plum gloss; velvety black upperwing with variable blue-green, blue to purple or plum gloss or sheen; brownish-black uppertail with blue iridescent sheen on outer webs, elongated central feather pair iridescent metallic green-blue and/or magenta; dark brown breast, increasingly washed with plum-purple at side; greatly enlarged axehead-shaped pectoral plumes black with metallic dark magenta iridescence, shorter overlying ones broadly tipped iridescent metallic blue, purple and/or violet; elongate modified feathers on each side of breast, belly and vent with highly iridescent metallic purple and/or magenta broad (but tapering) tips, sparse filamental flank plumes variable fawn-brown with paler, straw-coloured, central shafts; vent and undertail-coverts olive-brown; iris pale chalk-blue; bill black, mouth bright yellow; legs dark greyish to blackish. Female is markedly smaller than male, particularly in tail, has plumage radically different, lacking iridescence; cryptically coloured in various dark browns dorsally, but more reddish-brown on forehead, crown and nape, darker brown upperwing with raw umber edging to remiges and greater coverts; face blackish, chin and throat dark sooty-brown, finely flecked dull buff, underparts greyish-white to light buff with regular blackish-brown barring throughout, slightly paler barring towards rear. Juvenile is like adult female, but crown and mantle brighter and more rust-coloured, general plumage soft and fluffy, especially on abdomen; immature male like adult female, but tail longer; subadult male variable, from much like adult female with few feathers of adult male plumage intruding to like adult male but with few female-like feathers remaining, young male first acquires darker crown than adult female and blackish feathering around eyes, lores, bill, chin and upper throat, followed by adult head plumage and then, with subsequent moults, an increasing proportion of adult plumage; male acquires progressively longer tail with age, central feather pair more than doubling in length. Race <em>bloodi</em> is similar to nominate but is considerably smaller, with male flank plumes paler, rather more dirty whitish; albicans is also similar to nominate but is slightly smaller, with male flank plumes whitish.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Middle and upper montane forests, including moss forest, also disturbed forest, secondary growth and forest edge; 1500–3200 m, mainly 1900–2900 m.

Presumed resident.

Fruits (mainly drupes), also arthropods and small vertebrates, in fairly equal proportions. Fruits and arthropods fed to nestlings. Forages from ground to canopy , mostly in middle stages of forest interior. Probes into and tears epiphytic plant growth, mostly using bill to locate animals within debris between bases of pandanus (Pandanus) fronds. Often solitary, but not uncommonly forages in company of conspecifics or other birds-of-paradise (especially Astrapia). Adult male appears to forage within a home range from which it excludes other adult males, but permitting individuals in female-type plumage to feed there.

Advertisement song of male sounds like a burst of automatic machine-gun fire , with slight geographical variations, in SE of range "tat-at, tat-at, tat-at" but in Central Highlands "tat-at-at-at, tat-at-at-at-at-at"; audible at distance of up to 2 km. A foraging or contact call is rendered as a nasal "nreh!" or a rising "wahn"; other vocalizations and mechanical sounds (drumming, snapping, cracking) have been noted, but are not yet adequately described. Notes produced by individuals in female-like plumage are chicken-like and a barking "ugh!".

At least Apr–Jan; males with gonads moderately enlarged in Jan–Feb, Apr and Jun and much enlarged in Jul–Dec, female with oocytes moderately enlarged in Mar, Jul and Dec and much enlarged in Jan; in Wau area of SE New Guinea, recently fledged juvenile at Bulldog Road mid-Dec and another on Mt Kaindi early Mar; display at least Feb, May–Aug and mid-Dec on Mt Hagen, also Sept–Dec in Tari Gap. Polygynous, solitary promiscuous male advertisement-singing/displaying from one or more traditional perches; female builds and attends nest alone. Male maintains large territory containing display perches (usually near-horizontal or gently sloping branches) in forest canopy, upper middle stage or substage near centre of territory, perches sometimes regularly dispersed along ridges; counter-singing at territorial boundaries possibly maintains male dispersion, but most singing performed at display sites defended against rival males. Main courtship displays include static posture, leg-flex to lean and sway, incorporating movements of pectoral, flank and tail plumes, and gaping; three phases recorded, respectively the Pumping, Leaning and Upright postures. Nest a shallow bowl of stringy living mosses, fern fronds, leaves, grasses and/or slender vines, lined with slender brownish rootlets, orchid and fern stems, dried fern tips, small leaves and many skeletonized leaf fragments, placed c. 4–12 m above ground in crown of pandanus or tree-fern or in small tree. Clutch 1 egg; no information on incubation and nestling periods.

Not globally threatened. Restricted range species: present in Central Papuan Mountains EBA. CITES II. Common to abundant over much, if not most, of range; uncommon or absent in some apparently suitable habitats. In 350 ha on Mt Missim, at least ten adult males resident, with nearest-neighbour distance 270–440 m (mean 332 m). Adult males rare in Baliem and Ilaga Valley areas (W New Guinea) in mid-1950s and 1960 owing to traditional hunting; in Kaironk Valley (Schrader Range, in E New Guinea), species was much less in evidence in 1970s than in 1960s. Lives in altitudinal range above that where most clearing of forest for human habitation and agriculture occurs; probably in no immediate danger.