Spectacled Longbill Oedistoma iliolophus Scientific name definitions

11 cm. Very small, very drab-looking passerine with long decurved bill. Nominate race is dark olive-green above, olive-grey below, washed with yellow on flanks; iris dark brown, conspicuous but narrow fleshy yellow eyering; bill black, paler yellowish base; legs dull slaty blue. Sexes similar. Immature undescribed. Races differ only slightly in size or coloration, or both: <em>cinerascens</em> has crown grey, not dark ­olive-green; affine is smaller, has crown olive-green; flavum resembles previous, but has more yellowish underparts; fergussonis is largest race.

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.

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.

Rainforest and, locally, monsoon forest, in lowlands and hills; found also at forest edge and in secondary growth, visiting flowering shrubs. To c. 1200 m, locally to 1750 m in lower montane zone.

Resident; in study at Brown R, individuals frequently retrapped at site of ringing.

Feeds on insects, nectar and sometimes fruit. Forages in lower levels of vegetation, also at flowering trees and shrubs. Very active, and hard to see well; often glimpsed as it darts across a path or through forest under­storey. Frequently flicks wings, and is seldom still for long. Best observed at flowering trees and shrubs, where it takes nectar. Probes into flowers of shrubs, trees, vines and wild bananas (Musa); also gleans from branches and trunks, and hovers occasionally. Takes insects from spider webs, and often seen to face vertically downwards on trunks. Recorded as visiting forest pools during dry weather, but uncertain if drinking, bathing or merely foraging. Usually seen singly, sometimes in pairs. Will associate loosely with mixed-species flocks with Yellow-bellied Gerygone (Gerygone chryso­gaster), Frilled Monarch (Arses telescopthalmus) and Chestnut-bellied Fantail (Rhipidura hyperythra), but not a core member of such assemblages.

Poorly known. Noted as breeding at Brown R, near Port Moresby, in Aug–Sept dry season and as being in breeding condition in Oct. One nest from Fergusson I (race fergussonis), in Dec 1896, was a cup of dried grass lined with snow-white soft vegetable silk, the exterior covered with partly decayed dried leaves, attached to a twig; contained 1 egg, creamy white, with reddish spots forming ring around larger end and with few brown hair-like lines around middle. Maximum recorded longevity at R Brown study site 7 years 4 months. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Generally common within its widely distributed habitat, and often one of the most abundant birds of lowland forest and hill forest, but seemingly absent from much of S Trans-Fly. At study site at Brown R, density of c. 40 birds/10 ha, similar to that recorded for Yellow-bellied Gerygone and Little Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla megarhyncha).