Black-billed Sicklebill

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Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Paradisaeidae
Genus:	Epimachus
Species:	E. albertisi

Binomial name

Epimachus albertisi
(Sclater, 1873)

The Black-billed Sicklebill (Epimachus albertisi), also known as Buff-tailed Sicklebill (leading to easy confusion with the hermit hummingbird Eutoxeres condamini), is a medium-sized, up to 35cm long, brown bird of paradise. The male has a bare maroon grey skin around its eye, buff colored tail, dark brown iris, yellow mouth and black sickle-like bill. It is adorned with dark horn-like forecrown feathers, an erectile fan-like bronze neck plumes and elongated purple-tipped flank plumes. Unadorned brown female is smaller with bill longer than male and dark barred below.

The Black-billed Sicklebill is distributed to mountain forests of New Guinea. Its diet consists mainly of fruit and arthropods. The female lays one to two pale cream eggs with brown and grey spots.

The scientific name commemorates the Italian naturalist Luigi Maria d'Albertis, who discovered this species in 1872.

Widespread throughout its large range, the Black-billed Sicklebill is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Epimachus albertisi. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 29 October 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern