The Morotai friarbird or dusky friarbird (''Philemon fuscicapillus'') is a species of

friarbird The friarbirds, also called leatherheads, are about 15 species of relatively large honeyeaters in the genus ''Philemon''. Additionally, the single member of the genus ''Melitograis'' is called the white-streaked friarbird. Friarbirds are found ...

in the honeyeater

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 ...

Meliphagidae The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Guinea ...

. It is a dark brown bird with pale undersides. The area around the eye is bare and pink. It is around 30 cm long. The species is mimicked by the

dusky-brown oriole The dusky-brown oriole (''Oriolus phaeochromus'') is a species of bird in the family Oriolidae. It is endemic to North Maluku. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest A forest is an area of land dominated by ...

, which is almost identical in appearance, a situation that has arisen in many species of orioles and

s that exist in the same habitat. This is thought to reduce aggression by the friarbirds against the smaller orioles. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the island of

Morotai Morotai Island ( id, Pulau Morotai) is an island in the Halmahera group of eastern Indonesia's Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is one of Indonesia's northernmost islands. Morotai is a rugged, forested island lying to the north of Halmahera. It ha ...

(there are also unproven records on

Bacan The Bacan Islands, formerly also known as the Bachans, Bachians, and Batchians, are a group of islands in the Moluccas in Indonesia. They are mountainous and forested, lying south of Ternate and southwest of Halmahera. The islands are administe ...

) in

North Maluku North Maluku ( id, Maluku Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s and tropical moist

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

. The species is tolerant of habitat degradation and has been observed living in coconut

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s. It is probably threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, as much of the remaining forest in its range is threatened with logging, but more research is needed.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2224724 Morotai friarbird Birds of the Maluku Islands Morotai friarbird Taxonomy articles created by Polbot