The buff-sided robin (Poecilodryas cerviniventris ) is a small, diurnal, insectivorous, perching (passerine) bird in the family Petroicidae, a group commonly known as the Australo-Papuan or Australasian robins. It is also known as the buff-sided fly-robin, buff-sided shrike-robin and Isabellflankenschnäpper (German). The buff-sided robin is endemic to northern Australia, where it primarily occurs in riparian forests and monsoon vine thickets from the Kimberly region of Western Australia to the north-west Queensland Gulf of Carpentaria. The plumage of the adult birds is characterised by a dark hood and back with a prominent white stripe on the supercilium; a white throat, white wing and tail bars, and a striking buff to orange patch on the flank below the wings. Adult birds are not sexually dimorphic; however, males are generally larger and can be separated from females based on morphological measurements. Buff-sided robins predominantly take insects from the ground by sallying from an observational perch. Insect prey are also occasionally taken by hawking on the wing or by gleaning from the trunk or foliage of riparian vegetation.
Diurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
An insectivore is a carnivorous plant or animal that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of e...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withThe buff-sided robin is a medium- to large-sized robin species, with body length ranging from 16 to 18 cm (6.3 to 7.1 in). Adult buff-sided robins are not sexually dimorphic, and the sexes cannot be differentiated on the basis of plumage. However, males are generally larger than females with very little overlap for weight, head length, bill length, tarsus and wing cord length; and sexing criteria can be developed on the basis of combined morphological measurements.
Based on data from museum specimen labels, adult wingspans range from 84 to 93 mm (3.3 to 3.7 in) (n=22) in male birds to 77 to 85 mm (3.0 to 3.3 in) in female birds (n=17). Adult male buff-sided robins weigh between 20.0 to 25.5 g (0.71 to 0.90 oz) (n=13), and females weigh between 15.5 to 20.3 g (0.55 to 0.72 oz) (n=10). Adult tarsus length ranges from 20.4 to 24.0 mm (0.80 to 0.94 in) (n=22) in male birds to 18.6 to 20.7 mm (0.73 to 0.81 in) in female birds (n=17).
The head and neck of adult birds is characterised by a dark hood with a prominent white stripe on the supercilium, the lores and auriculars are black, the malar region white, the throat white and rictal bristles are prominent. The mantle and nape are dark olive-brown to black, the chest has a strong grey wash, and the flanks and sides are deep fawn, becoming almost white on the belly. The base colour of the wings is dark brown to black, while the extremities of the greater wing-coverts, base of the primaries, base and extremities of the secondaries, and extremities of the tail are white. The bill is black, and the legs and feet are grey to blackish-brown or brown to black. The iris is dark brown. Distinguished from the similar white-browed robin by its larger size, thicker and longer white superciliary stripe, duskier upper back, broad black face band, grey chest, broader white remigial bar, rich tawny to rufous flanks, and white tipping on all rectrices.
The buff-sided robin occurs in suitable habitat within northern coastal drainage basins from the Kimberley region of north-west Western Australia, the Top End of the Northern Territory to the north-western Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland. In Western Australia, the buff-sided robin occurs within the Central Kimberley, Northern Kimberley and Ord Victoria Plain IBRA Bioregions with scattered records from King Edward River, Prince Regent River, Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges, Drysdale River/Kalumburu, Mitchell River, Mitchell Plateau, Fitzroy River, Geikie Gorge, Pentecost River, Wyndham and Kununurra. In the Northern Territory, the buff-sided robin occurs within the Victoria Bonaparte, Darwin Coastal, Arnhem Coast, Pine Creek, Daly Basin, Gulf Coastal, and Gulf Fall and Uplands IBRA Bioregions. In the western Northern Territory, the range of the buff-sided robin extends from the Western Australian border to Kakadu National Park within the Keep River, Victoria River, Fitzmaurice River, Moyle River, Daly River, Darwin River, Finniss River, Adelaide River, Mary River, Wildman River, West Alligator River and East Alligator River catchments. It is absent from eastern Arnhem Land, but occurs in eastern Northern Territory within the Roper River, Limmen Bight River, McArthur River, Robinson River, Calvert River and Settlement Creek drainage basins. In north-west Queensland, the buff-sided robin occurs in the Gulf Plains IBRA Bioregion, with all known records located within the Settlement Creek and Nicholson River drainage basins. Within these catchments, populations are known from the Gregory River, Nicholson River, Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park and Lagoon Creek (Westmoreland Gorge).
The buff-sided robin is largely confined to dense riparian vegetation, and subcoastal and sandstone monsoon vine-thickets. At riparian sites, it prefers thickets of freshwater mangrove, pandanus, and bamboo. The core riparian forest habitat of the buff-sided robin is characterised by canopy and sub-canopy trees, including Melaleuca leucadendra, Nauclea orientalis, Ficus, Terminalia, Pandanus aquaticus, and Barringtonia acutangula. Buff-sided robins are strongly associated with these dense, closed canopy, vegetation communities, rarely venturing into adjacent drier and more open forest types. Buff-sided robins have been reported occasionally from tidally influenced mangrove communities near the coast.
Observations of the habitat of the buff-sided robin were provided by Elsey, who described it as living in "mangroves" on the Victoria River, a reference to the freshwater mangrove (Barringtonia acutangula ) that occurs on the lower banks of freshwater reaches of rivers in the region. Whitlock confirmed Elsey's habitat observations on the Victoria River, reporting that the buff-sided robin was "...one of the most attractive inhabitants of the river forests, to which it seemed to be almost exclusively confined ", and that it "...favoured thickets of freshwater mangroves ". Hill described the buff-sided robin on the McArthur River (Gulf of Carpentaria) as being "Found in thick scrub and timber in sheltered localities, generally near water ". Barnard described it as "...common along the water-courses and in the brush growing at the foot of the sandstone bluffs" in the McArthur River catchment, the latter comment referring to dry monsoon vine-thickets associated with sandstone escarpments. At the eastern extremity of its range on the Gregory River (north-western Queensland), the buff-sided robin was reported by McClennan to occur in riverine habitat and "...when disturbed makes for the pandanus growing along the river-banks, where it is usually to be found at other times, and in which it doubtless nests. "
The buff-sided robin is a diurnal insectivore, predominantly hunting by sallying from a perch onto a hard substrate (usually the ground) remote from the bird—a predatory method that relies on observation, direct flight towards prey, followed by capture. An observational study suggested that 95% of successful foraging actions by the buff-sided robin are sally strikes onto a surface, and the remaining 5% are by hawking (aerial capture of a flying insect). A small percentage of prey is taken from other surfaces, including the trunks, branches, and foliage of vegetation. Most hunting is undertaken close to the ground, with 85% of foraging observations being within 0 to 3 m (0.0 to 9.8 ft) from the ground surface.
Detailed studies of the diet have not been undertaken; however, prey items are known to include a range of decapods, spiders, and insects, including beetles (Coleoptera), ants (Formicidae), and larval moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera).
Breeding occurs throughout the range of the buff-sided robin, with most breeding and nesting activity occurring across the warmer months and wet season between October and March, with occasional dry season nesting records. Clutch size is generally two and eggs range in size from 17.8 to 20.3 mm (0.70 to 0.80 in) in length. The eggs vary considerably in terms of colouration, with a ground colour of light green to dark olive-green and with reddish brown, chestnut or purplish-buff markings. Time between hatching and fledging of young is unknown. Buff-sided robin nests are occasionally targeted by interspecific, avian brood parasites (cuckoos). J.P. Rogers observed buff-sided robin adults feeding an immature cuckoo, presumed to be a black-eared cuckoo (Chalcites osculans ), on the Fitzroy River.
Buff-sided robin nests are located close to water in dense vegetation, and are established on a horizontal or vertical fork of a tree or shrub, commonly at a height of 1 to 3 m (3.3 to 9.8 ft), and occasionally at greater heights. Nests range in size from 7.3 to 10.2 cm (2.9 to 4.0 in) (external width) and 2.8 to 5.6 cm (1.1 to 2.2 in) (internal depth). Nests are loosely constructed from twigs, shreds of bark (Melaleuca ), vines, roots, and grass, bound with cobwebs, and sometimes lined with material, such as grass, rootlets, and feathers.
