The mangrove gerygone (''Gerygone levigaster'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the Australian warbler

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Acanthizidae The Acanthizidae—known as Australian warblers—are a family of passerine birds which includes gerygones, the thornbills '' Acanthiza'', and the scrubwrens of '' Sericornis''. The Acanthizidae family consists of small to medium passerine birds, ...

. The species is also known as the mangrove warbler. The species is thought to form a superspecies with the closely related

fan-tailed gerygone The fan-tailed gerygone (''Gerygone flavolateralis'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is found in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. The Rennell gerygone (''G. citrina'') of the Solomon Islands was formerly considered conspecific, bu ...

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

and the Australian western gerygone. There are three subspecies of mangrove gerygone, ''G. l. pallida'', found in southern

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, the nominate race ''G. l. levigaster'', which is found from coastal

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

to coastal north

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, and ''G. l. cantator'', which is found from coastal Queensland to

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. The species is uncommon in New Guinea and has suffered some declines due to mangrove clearances but is not considered

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. The species is principally distributed in

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

forests and in forests and woodland adjacent to mangroves. The species will move into nearby forests from mangroves to feed, particularly in the breeding season. Where its range overlaps with that of the

large-billed gerygone The large-billed gerygone (''Gerygone magnirostris'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae found in northern Australia and New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's secon ...

in the Kimberley it is actually displaced from the mangroves and is instead found in scrubland dominated by paperbarks and acacia. The mangrove gerygone is a typical member of the genus ''Gerygone'', they are small birds with rounded wings, 9–11 cm long and weighing 6 g. The

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

is grey above with a white throat, belly, flanks and rump. There is a distinct white eye stripe. The

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

and legs are black and the

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

is red. The subspecies ''G. l. pallida'' is slightly browner above and ''G. l. cantator'' is slightly larger and heavier. The

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

, which is similar to that of the western gerygone, has been described as "sweet, rich, tuneful". The species feeds in the foliage of trees on insects, including

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...

s and

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

s. It is less likely to catch prey in the air than other gerygones, but will join

mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

s with

white-eye The white-eyes are a family, Zosteropidae, of small passerine birds native to tropical, subtropical and temperate Sub-Saharan Africa, southern and eastern Asia, and Australasia. White-eyes inhabit most tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, the ...

s, honey-eaters and

fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as "f ...

s. The species mostly feeds in the canopy but will forage amongst the roots of mangroves. The mangrove gerygone breeds throughout the year, although principally in spring-summer in the east of Australia and during the dry season in the north. The female builds the oval domed

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...

. It is constructed out of roots, grass, spider webs, moss, seaweed and bark, and hangs from mangroves. Two to three eggs,Noske, R.A. (2001) "The breeding biology of the Mangrove Gerygone, ''Gerygone laevigaster'', in the Darwin region, with notes on brood parasitism by the Little Bronze-cuckoo, ''Chrysococcyx minutillus''". ''

Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''Dromaius''. The emu' ...

'' 101: 129-135 are laid in the nest and are incubated for 14–17 days. Both parents feed the chick for another 14–17 days. A number of

cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separ ...

species are

brood parasite Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own ...

s of this species.

References

* del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Christie D. (editors). (2006). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. {{Taxonbar, from=Q647354

mangrove gerygone The mangrove gerygone (''Gerygone levigaster'') is a species of bird in the Australian warbler family Acanthizidae. The species is also known as the mangrove warbler. The species is thought to form a superspecies with the closely related fan-tai ...

Birds of Australia Birds of Papua New Guinea

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot