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Yellow-breasted Boatbill (Machaerirhynchus flaviventer) Alternate name(s): "Boat-billed Flycatcher", "Yellow-breasted Wherrybill", "Yellow-breasted Flatbill", "Yellow-breasted Flycatcher" Size: 11-12.5 cm Body mass: 9-12 g

Australia: Family Group 21 Family Group 21 Table White-eared Monarch Pied Monarch Frill-necked Monarch Black-faced Monarch Black-winged Monarch Spectacled Monarch Yellow-breasted Boatbill Broad-billed Flycatcher Leaden Flycatcher Satin Flycatcher Shining Flycatcher Restless Flycatcher Paperbark Flycatcher Rufous Fantail Arafura Fantail Mangrove Fantail Grey Fantail Northern Fantail Willie Wagtail Spangled Drongo Magpie-lark Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Yellow-breasted Boatbills are very small flycatchers. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are slightly different. Like all Australian flycatchers, they have "whiskers" on both sides of the bill. Male Yellow-breasted Boatbills have a black cap, a wide black eye stripe, black ear coverts, lores and black shoulders with two white bars. The long, wide, yellow eyebrows reach from the base of the bill to behind the ear coverts. The front, down to the undertail coverts, is bright yellow, except for a white throat patch. The back is dark-grey to dark-olive. The flight feathers are dark-grey to black, with narrow yellow to olive edge lining. The dark-grey tail feathers have white terminal outer edges. Female Yellow-breasted Boatbills have a much larger whitish throat patch than the males and their front is greyish olive-yellow, with some darker grey chevrons. The cap and back, which are near-black in males, are dark-olive in females. The bills of both sexes are very wide; the males' bill is black, females have a dark-grey bill. Both sexes have eyes with dark irises. The legs and feet of both sexes are grey. Juveniles resemble females, but have more brownish wings.

Taxonomy, classification See Yellow-breasted Boatbill at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Yellow-breasted Boatbill is available HERE . Yellow-breasted Boatbills populate West Papua (eastern Indonesia), New Guinea and north-eastern Australia. In Australia two races can be found, both of which are endemic. Nominate race "flaviventer" occurs only in a (near-)coastal fringe along the tip of Cape York peninsula, in Far-North QLD. On the East coast their range goes as far South as almost Coen, QLD. Race "secundus" resides farther South along the QLD East coast, from about Black Mountain NP in the North to Townsville, QLD, in the South. Yellow-breasted Boatbills are found only in tropical/subtropical rainforest.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "flaviventer" M. Eaton reports finding a Yellow-breasted Boatbill, race "flaviventer", at Kutini Payamu (Iron Range) NP, Cape York peninsula, QLD, in June 2024. So far, only an audio recording is available for this race. Race "secundus" B. Hensen reports spotting Yellow-breasted Boatbills, race "secundus", at Julatten, QLD, in July 2013. M. Eaton reports finding a Yellow-breasted Boatbill, race "secundus", at Julatten, QLD, in July 2018. Another was found at Paluma Rainforest, near Townsville, QLD, in September 2020. Next, Yellow-breasted Boatbills, race "secundus", were found at Julatten, QLD, in June 2024. J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours found Yellow-breasted Boatbills, race "secundus", at Cape Tribulation, QLD, in December 2019, and at Curtin Fig Tree, Atherton Tablelands, QLD, in October 2020. Another was found at Malanda, QLD, in September 2023.

Photos

Race "secundus"

ADULT

MALE

Frontal view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Julatten, QLD, June 2024]

Frontal view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Julatten, QLD, July 2013]

Close-up near-frontal/ventral view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Malanda, QLD, September 2023]

Near-frontal/ventral view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Julatten, QLD, June 2024]

Close-up near-frontal/ventral view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill looking sideways
(photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Curtin Fig Tree, Atherton Tablelands, QLD, October 2020]

Close-up near-frontal/ventral view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill looking upwards
(photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Curtin Fig Tree, Atherton Tablelands, QLD, October 2020]

Near-lateral view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Julatten, QLD, June 2024]

Close-up near-lateral/ventral view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill - what a spatula!
(photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Curtin Fig Tree, Atherton Tablelands, QLD, October 2020]

Lateral view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Julatten, QLD, June 2024]

Lateral view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill with its tail cocked (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Julatten, QLD, June 2024]

Lateral view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Julatten, QLD, July 2013]

Lateral/ventral view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill with its tail cocked (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Julatten, QLD, June 2024]

Close-up lateral/ventral view of a male Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Malanda, QLD, September 2023]

FEMALE

Near-frontal view of a female Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Julatten, QLD, July 2013]

Near-frontal view of a female Yellow-breasted Boatbill looking for prey (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Julatten, QLD, July 2013]

Near-lateral/ventral view of a female Yellow-breasted Boatbill; note the name-giving extremely wide bill
(photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Julatten, QLD, July 2013]

Lateral view of a female Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Cape Tribulation, QLD, December 2019]

Lateral view of a female Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Julatten, QLD, June 2024]

Dorsal/ventral view of a female Yellow-breasted Boatbill (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Julatten, QLD, July 2018]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Sedentary

Elementary unit: Solitary

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

ybrboat_me_20240613.m4a	flaviventer (Far-N QLD)	Contact calls? (+ Black Butcherbird)	© ME
ybrboat_me_20200927.m4a	secundus (N QLD)	Warning calls?	© ME
ybrboat_me_20200927_2.m4a	secundus (N QLD)	Warning calls?	© ME
ybrboat_me_20200927_3.m4a	secundus (N QLD)	Warning calls?	© ME

More Yellow-breasted Boatbill sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.