Incubation behaviour and care of a nestling by a pair of Black Fantails Rhipidura atra

Abstract

The Black Fantail Rhipidura atra, endemic to the lower montane forests of New Guinea, builds a typical fantail nest. Observations of a nest placed high up in an understorey tree in the Arfak Mountains in Indonesian New Guinea revealed that the male and female of a pair mostly alternated incubation bouts and contributed almost equally to incubation, care of the nestling and nest-defence. Incubation constancy was ~80%. Observations of Black Fantails mobbing potential nest-predators are described.