Birds of the World

New Britain Bronzewing Henicophaps foersteri Scientific name definitions

Luis F. Baptista, Pepper W. Trail, H. M. Horblit, Eduardo de Juana, Peter F. D. Boesman, and Ernest Garcia
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 21, 2019

Sign in to see your badges

Field Identification

38 cm. Forehead buffy, merging with rufous of crown, hindneck, upper mantle and sides of breast; rest of mantle, wings and tail sooty grey to purple; throat to auriculars whitish buff; remainder of underparts buff; bill blackish brown; legs and feet red. Sexes similar, but female has underparts tinged rusty brown; smaller bill.

Systematics History

Closely related to H. albifrons. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

S Bismarck Archipelago on Umboi, New Britain and nearby Lolobau.

Habitat

A lowland old-growth forest species, known only from primary and mature secondary forest in lowlands and hills to at least 700 m.

Movement

No information.

Diet and Foraging

No information on diet. Reported to feed principally on the ground, and presumably has feeding methods similar to those of H. albifrons.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Poorly documented. Advertising call said to be a monotonously repeated “pip-yia”, the second note at a higher pitch and upslurred (1).

Breeding

Local people report that nests are placed low in a shrub or small tree, and that 2 eggs are laid.

VULNERABLE. Previously considered Near Threatened. A scarce species that was regarded as rare even in the early years of 20th century, at the time of its discovery. The population has been estimated as fewer than 5,000 individuals, chiefly on New Britain, with smaller numbers on the much smaller island of Umboi. Threatened by forest loss to logging and clearance for oil palm plantations and subsistence farming. It has been recorded in both the Garu and the Poikili Wildlife Protection Areas.

Distribution of the New Britain Bronzewing - Range Map
Enlarge
  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the New Britain Bronzewing

Recommended Citation

Baptista, L. F., P. W. Trail, H. M. Horblit, E. de Juana, P. F. D. Boesman, and E. F. J. Garcia (2020). New Britain Bronzewing (Henicophaps foersteri), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.nebbro1.01
Birds of the World

Partnerships

A global alliance of nature organizations working to document the natural history of all bird species at an unprecedented scale.