Yellow-bellied Flyrobin Cryptomicroeca flaviventris Scientific name definitions

14–15 cm; 10.5–14.5 g. Has pale gray lores, light gray face , ear-coverts and side of neck; crown and upperparts, including upperwing-coverts, dark brownish-olive, rump slightly paler; flight-feathers and tail dark brown, remiges thinly edged with olive; centre of throat and upper breast very pale gray, central breast light gray, lower breast and side of upper belly gray, breast sometimes with paler whitish streaking, remainder of underparts bright lemon-yellow; iris dark brown, upper mandible dusky, lower mandible yellowish; feet pale pinkish-brown. Sexes alike. Juvenile is brownish with indistinct paler shaft streaks, particularly on crown.

New Caledonia (Grande Terre, Isle of Pines).

Dry lowland woods, pine-pandanus (Pinus-Pandanus) forest, and humid forest  . From sea-level up to c. 1,050 m; up to 1,525 m on Mount Panie.

Insects. Forages below 3 m. Prey usually captured on the ground, occasionally in low bushes. Drops onto prey in the leaf litter.

Song is a repeated short warble with phrases of rapid short peeps combined with many liquid notes; high-pitched “tsip-tsip” sometimes uttered between phrases. Also regular series of “<em>chip-chip-chip-</em>” notes, and a harsh alarm call.

Season September–March; probably double-brooded. Nest a cup of grass and other thin vegetation, bound externally with spider web and decorated with pieces of bark and lichen, external diameter 4.5 cm, placed 1–5 m from ground on slender branch. Clutch two eggs, light bluish-gray, heavily marked with dark brown splotches; both parents incubate eggs and care for young, no information on duration of incubation and nestling periods; performs injury-feigning distraction display.

Not globally threatened. Restricted-range species: present in New ­Caledonia EBA. Reported to be fairly common, at any rate in parts of range. Present in Rivière Bleue Reserve .