#berrypecker

[best-bird-tournament]

Passeri suborder - round 1, section 1

Which is the best bird?

Superb lyrebird

Olive warbler

Chowchilla

North Island kokako

Philippine leafbird

Fan-tailed berrypecker

Philippine fairy-bluebird

Drakensberg rockjumper

Voting ended onJan 29

[rockjumperbirdingtours]

The Crested Berrypecker (Paramythia montium) is part of a very small bird family known as painted berrypeckers (Paramythiidae), which is restricted to the mountain forests of New Guinea – the other member being the Tit Berrypecker (Oreocharis arfaki). 

This colourful, medium-sized bird is known to feed on fruit and some insects and is usually found at altitudes exceeding 2,200 metres above sea level. 

The eponymous crest is clearly visible in this beautiful photograph, which was captured by the ever-talented Rich Lindie, who was recently guiding in Papua New Guinea.

[best-bird-tournament]

Orioloidea superfamily

Which is the best bird?

Long-tailed minivet

Wattled ploughbill

Crested bellbird

Eastern shriketit

Hooded pitohui

Eastern crested berrypecker

Blue-headed vireo

Eastern whipbird

Australian golden whistler

Green shrike-vireo

Black pitohui

Voting ended onDec 28, 2025

[best-bird-tournament]

Berrypecker & longbill (Melanocharitidae) family

Which is the best bird?

Slaty-headed longbill

Black berrypecker

Fan-tailed berrypecker

Voting ended onDec 7, 2025

This family contains just three eligible species in two genera (Melanocharis and Toxorhamphus).

[birdfocus]

Crested Berrypecker | Source

[typhlonectes]

50 Years Later, Climate Has Pushed New Guinea’s Birds Up and Off Mountains

by Hugh Powell

Crested Berrypeckers do exist, just this side of make-believe, in the mossy, wooded mountaintops of New Guinea. The bird is spectacular: a vaguely jay-looking bird with a black crest, moody blue underparts, and brilliant yellow undertail coverts. The Macaulay Library has a video of one prying berries from a fruiting shrub. It patiently grips a berry in its bill, stopping and starting to get it in the right place, and tugs with its full body to pull it loose. Not once does the berry actually get pecked.

The noted scientist and author Jared Diamond saw something similar in 1965, when he encountered Crested Berrypeckers on a remote peak called Mt. Karimui. Sounding a bit puzzled, he wrote, “Paramythia montium… flies into a tree with a loud wing beat, hops around vigorously, plucks a few berries, and flies off again, leaving the tree full of uneaten berries.” Diamond also noted that he never saw the birds farther than 40 feet below the summit...

(read more: Cornell Lab of Ornithology)