The Grey-headed Robin 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 family Petroicidae

Petroicidae

The bird family Petroicidae includes roughly 45 species in about 15 genera. All are endemic to Australasia: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific Islands as far east as Samoa. For want of an accurate common name, the family is often called the Australasian robins. Within the...

.

Taxonomy

It is one of two species within the genus Heteromyias. Previously it and the Ashy Robin

Ashy Robin

The Ashy Robin , also known as Black-cheeked Robin, is a species of bird in the family Petroicidae native to New Guinea.-Taxonomy:...

 from New Guinea were treated as one species and known as Heteromyias albispecularis. Described by Australian naturalist Edward Pierson Ramsay

Edward Pierson Ramsay

Edward Pierson Ramsay was an Australian zoologist who specialised in ornithology.-Early life:Pierson was born in Dobroyd Estate, Long Cove, Sydney and educated at St Mark's Collegiate School, The King's School, Parramatta...

 in 1876, the Grey-headed Robin is a member of the Australasian Robin family Petroicidae

Petroicidae

The bird family Petroicidae includes roughly 45 species in about 15 genera. All are endemic to Australasia: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific Islands as far east as Samoa. For want of an accurate common name, the family is often called the Australasian robins. Within the...

, or Eopsaltridae. Sibley

Charles Sibley

Charles Gald Sibley was an American ornithologist and molecular biologist. He had an immense influence on the scientific classification of birds, and the work that Sibley initiated has substantially altered our understanding of the evolutionary history of modern birds.Sibley's taxonomy has been a...

 and Ahlquist's DNA-DNA hybridisation

DNA-DNA hybridisation

DNA-DNA hybridization generally refers to a molecular biology technique that measures the degree of genetic similarity between pools of DNA sequences. It is usually used to determine the genetic distance between two species...

 studies placed this group in a Corvida

Corvida

The "Corvida" were one of two "parvorders" contained within the suborder Passeri, as proposed in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy. Standard taxonomic practice would place them at the rank of infraorder....

 parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines including pardalotes, fairy-wrens

Maluridae

The Maluridae are a family of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens of the Northern Hemisphere...

, honeyeaters and crows. However, subsequent molecular research (and current consensus) places the robins as a very early offshoot of the Passerida

Passerida

Passerida is under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, one of two "parvorders" contained within the suborder Passeri...

, or "advanced" songbirds, within the songbird

Songbird

A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...

 lineage.

Description

The Grey-headed Robin has, as its name suggests, a grey crown and lores, white throat and olive-brown ear coverts and upperparts, with a white patch on the wings. The underparts are pale, the breast pale grey and belly white. The bill and eyes are dark brown.

Distribution and habitat

It is endemic to Queensland in Australia. The range in Australia is from Cardwell to the Bloomfield River in northeastern Queensland. Its natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s and subtropical or tropical moist montane

Montane

In biogeography, montane is the highland area located below the subalpine zone. Montane regions generally have cooler temperatures and often have higher rainfall than the adjacent lowland regions, and are frequently home to distinct communities of plants and animals.The term "montane" means "of the...

s.

Breeding

Breeding occurs from August or September to January, with one or two broods per season. The nest is a shallow cup made of bark, grass and dry leaves. Spider web

Spider web

A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....

s are used for binding or filling, and strips of fern and palm for lining the outside is decorated by dried vegetation. The nest is generally placed in a lawyer vine up to 10 m (30 ft) above the ground. A clutch of one or two eggs is laid. The eggs are buff, cream- or greenish-white, and marked with light brown splotches and spots, usually concentrated around the large end, and measure 26 by 19 mm.