Rhipidura rufiventris (Vieillot, 1818)

Bishop, K. David, 2023, The avifauna of Biak Island, Papua, Indonesia with comments on status, conservation, natural history and taxonomy, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 143 (1), pp. 3-62 : 48

NORTHERN FANTAIL Rhipidura rufiventris #

Range R. r. kordensis Biak, Supiori ; R. r. gularis Mios Num, Yapen.

Taxonomy Del Hoyo & Collar (2016) treated kordensis as a species following theirs and Eaton et al.’s (2016) independent analysis of this large, polytypic species. Beehler & Pratt (2016) acknowledged that this taxon is ‘very distinctive’ suggesting that it may indeed be best considered an endemic species, as it was treated by Gregory (2017).

Status Biak endemic subspecies. Obtained by five collectors and observed by most visitors. Widespread and generally common in mature secondary woodland, selectively logged and primary forest; sea level to c. 320 m (KDB; Supiori).