The Fiji Whistler is a species of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 in the Pachycephalidae

Pachycephalidae

The family Pachycephalidae, collectively the whistlers, includes the whistlers, shrike-thrushes, shrike-tits, pitohuis and Crested Bellbird, and is part of the ancient Australo-Papuan radiation of songbirds. Its members range from small to medium in size, and occupy most of Australasia...

 family, which is endemic to Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

. It is variably considered a subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of a widespread P. pectoralis, a subspecies of P. vitiensis

White-throated Whistler

The White-throated Whistler is a species of bird in the Pachycephalidae family, which is endemic to Fiji and the Solomons . It is variably considered a subspecies of a widespread P...

or treated as a separate species, but strong published evidence in favour of either treatment is limited, and further study is warranted to resolve the complex taxonomic situation. To further confuse, when treated as a subspecies of P. vitiensis the common name Fiji Whistler is used for the "combined" species, but when the two are split that name is limited to P. graeffii, while P. vitiensis is known as the White-throated Whistler

White-throated Whistler

The White-throated Whistler is a species of bird in the Pachycephalidae family, which is endemic to Fiji and the Solomons . It is variably considered a subspecies of a widespread P...

. Unlike that species, males of the Fiji Whistler are yellow-throated. It has been speculated that these two groups are the result of separate waves of colonisations, with the yellow-throated being the result of an early colonisation, and the white-throated the result of a secondary colonisation. The yellow-throated are found on most northern and central islands (Vanua Levu

Vanua Levu

Vanua Levu , formerly known as Sandalwood Island, is the second largest island of Fiji. Located 64 kilometres to the north of the larger Viti Levu, the island has an area of 5,587.1 km² and a population of some 130,000.- Geography :...

, Viti Levu

Viti Levu

Viti Levu is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji, the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population.- Geography and economy :...

, Taveuni

Taveuni

Taveuni is the third-largest island in Fiji, after Vanua Levu and Viti Levu, with a total land area of 435 square kilometers . The cigar-shaped island, a massive shield volcano which rises from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, is situated 6.5 kilometers to the east of Vanua Levu, across the...

, Ovalau, Kioa

Kioa

Kioa is an island in Fiji, an outlier to Vanua Levu, one of Fiji's two main islands. Situated opposite Buca Bay, Kioa is a freehold by settlers from Tuvalu, who came between 1947 and 1983...

, Rabi

Rabi Island

Rabi is a volcanic island in northern Fiji. It is an outlier to Taveuni , in the Vanua Levu Group. It covers an area of 66.3 square kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of 463 meters and has a shoreline of 46.2 kilometers...

, Koro

Koro Island

Koro is a volcanic island of Fiji that forms part of the Lomaiviti Archipelago. The Koro Sea is named after this volcanic island, which has a chain of basaltic cinder cones extending from north to south along its crest. With a land area of 108.9 square kilometers , it is the sixth largest island...

 and Vatu Vara

Vatu Vara

Vatu Vara Island lies in the northwest sector of Fiji's northern Lau Group of islands, 32 km west of Mago Island and some 60 km south-west of Vanua Balavu at Lat: 17° 26'00 S Long: 179° 31'00 W....

), while the white-throated are found on some southern islands (Kadavu, Gau

Gau Island

Gau is an island belonging to Fiji's Lomaiviti Archipelago. Located at 18.00° S and 179.30 °E, it covers an area of 136.1 square kilometers, with a total shoreline of 66.3 kilometers, making it the 5th largest island in the Fijian archipelago. Its maximum altitude is 738 meters...

 and southern Lau Islands

Lau Islands

The Lau Islands of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about one hundred islands and islets, about thirty are inhabited...

, and also the Santa Cruz Islands

Santa Cruz Islands

The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. They lie approximately 250 miles to the southeast of the Solomon Islands Chain...

 in the Solomons).