Brush Bronzewing
Phaps elegans· 鸠鸽科(1 photos)
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Locations:
Brush Bronzewing
28-31 cm. Dark olive-brown above with rich chestnut nape and shoulders; two curved bronzed blue/green bars across wing; underparts blue-grey. Male: forehead chestnut-buff; crown grey; bold chestnut line back through eye joins nape, margined white below; rich chestnut throat patch. Female: duller, forehead grey; nape less chestnut; throat patch smaller. Juvenile: greyer, duller, with fine cream fringes to wing coverts. Singles, pairs: feeds quietly on ground at edge of scrub, roadsides; flight swift; looks very dark; note rich chestnut shoulders, rusty flight-feathers.
- Similar Species
- Common Bronzewing: larger; has distinct scaly pattern above; lacks chestnut tones and throat patch; has white eyeline; larger, bronzed orange-green wingpatch.
- Voice
- muffled 'whoop!', shorter, higher-pitched than Common Bronzewing; at shorter intervals (c. 45-50 per minute); incessantly when breeding.
- Habitat
- dense scrubs, heaths, forest; woodland with scrubby understorey; mallee; alpine woodlands in summer. Drier, sparser scrubs near coast and on coastal islands.
- Breeding
- Sept.-Jan.
- Nest
- scanty, of twigs and rootlets; in shrub or tangle of fallen branches and leaves, near or on ground under cover.
- Eggs
- 2; white.
- Range & Status
- coastal se. and sw. Aust., from Fraser I. (Q) to Bass Strait islands and Tas.; Eyre Pen. and Kangaroo I. (SA), inland to w. slopes of Divide and Vic.-SA mallee. In s. WA, mostly w. and s. of Esperance-Dongara; also Recherche Arch., Abrolhos Group and other islands. Locally common; generally scarce. Sedentary.
- Distribution key to races
- 1. Phaps elegans occidentalis 2. Phaps elegans elegans
