Zosterops atrifrons

Diamond, Jared & Bishop, K. David, 2021, Avifauna of the Adelbert Mountains, New Guinea: why is Fire-maned Bowerbird Sericulus bakeri the mountains’ only endemic bird species?, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 141 (1), pp. 75-108 : 98

BLACK-FRONTED WHITE-EYE Zosterops atrifrons

Common at Kangarangate down to 905 m, and abundant at Munggur up to 1,645 m. The Adelbert song is the ‘wheel song’ characteristic of the species elsewhere in New Guinea: aȱ descendingȱ seriesȱ ofȱ notesȱ likeȱ theȱ soundȱ ofȱ aȱ wheelȱ turning,ȱ terminatingȱ inȱ aȱ flourish.ȱ Because two or three Zosterops species co-exist by elevational segregation on all other outliers except Van Rees, and because one Zosterops specimen collected in the Adelberts by W. Peckover was catalogued as Z. novaeguineae (very similar in plumage to Z. atrifrons , but veryȱ differentȱ inȱ song)ȱ beforeȱ beingȱ preparedȱ asȱ aȱ skeleton,ȱ weȱ paidȱ particularȱ attentionȱ to Adelbert white-eyes and their songs. All singing Zosterops that we encountered gave the ‘wheel song’ of Z. atrifrons . Because we found Z. atrifrons abundant up to the highest elevations in the Adelberts, it seems unlikely that Z. novaeguineae or any other Zosterops species could be present at high elevations along with Z. atrifrons .