Black-billed Sicklebill
Encyclopedia
The Black-billed Sicklebill (Drepanornis albertisi), also known as Buff-tailed Sicklebill (leading to easy confusion with the hermit hummingbird
Eutoxeres condamini), is a medium-sized, about 35 cm long, brown bird of paradise. The male has a bare maroon grey skin around its eye, buff colored tail, dark brown iris
, yellow mouth and black sickle
-like bill
. It is adorned with dark horn-like forecrown feathers, an erectile fan-like bronze neck plumes and elongated purple-tipped flank plumes. Unadorned brown female is smaller with bill longer than male and dark barred below.
The Black-billed Sicklebill is distributed to mountain forests of New Guinea
. Its diet consists mainly of fruit and arthropods. The female lays one to two pale cream eggs with brown and grey spots.
The scientific name commemorates the Italian
naturalist Luigi Maria d'Albertis, who discovered this species in 1872.
Widespread throughout its large range, the Black-billed Sicklebill is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
Hermit (hummingbird)
The hermits are tropical and subtropical hummingbirds in the subfamily Phaethornithinae, comprising 30–40 species in six genera. They occur from southern Mexico, through Central America, to South America as far south as northern Argentina....
Eutoxeres condamini), is a medium-sized, about 35 cm long, brown bird of paradise. The male has a bare maroon grey skin around its eye, buff colored tail, dark brown iris
Iris (anatomy)
The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel , grey, violet, or even pink...
, yellow mouth and black sickle
Sickle
A sickle is a hand-held agricultural tool with a variously curved blade typically used for harvesting grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock . Sickles have also been used as weapons, either in their original form or in various derivations.The diversity of sickles that...
-like bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
. It is adorned with dark horn-like forecrown feathers, an erectile fan-like bronze neck plumes and elongated purple-tipped flank plumes. Unadorned brown female is smaller with bill longer than male and dark barred below.
The Black-billed Sicklebill is distributed to mountain forests of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. Its diet consists mainly of fruit and arthropods. The female lays one to two pale cream eggs with brown and grey spots.
The scientific name commemorates the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
naturalist Luigi Maria d'Albertis, who discovered this species in 1872.
Widespread throughout its large range, the Black-billed Sicklebill is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.