Ian’s Bird of the Week – Black Stilt

November 15, 2011 by Ian

Black Stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae) 1 by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Black Stilt ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter – 11/15/11

You’ve done it again! Your collective goodwill and spiritual energy have provided yet another special, this time very special bird, the critically endangered and recently saved from extinction Black Stilt. I did have to do a little work as well to find a couple in their favoured habitat of often inaccessible, so-called braided rivers of the South Island. At the second potential site, see photo, the task seemed impossible – that’s all river bed between the foreground and the mountains – and I almost gave up.

Tasman River by Ian

The third site wasn’t any better, but the fourth and last was a bridge over another river and you could have knocked me over with a feather when, having just stepped onto the bridge, I spotted two Black Stilts feeding a couple of hundred meters away close to the river bank.

One flew away when I approached but the other was much more cooperative and continued feeding.

Black Stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae) 2 by Ian

Eventually it flew off too, but it landed not far away, close to a breeding colony of 3 or 4 pairs of Black-fronted Terns, another species on my wanted list.

Black Stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae) 3 by Ian

It stayed for a little while longer, until the terns chased it off. If you look carefully in the last photo, you can see a coloured band on the right leg and bird is presumably one of the captive-bred and released birds.

Black Stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae) 4 by Ian

The population of Black Stilts in the wild reached a low of 23 adults in 1981 when the program started, making it the rarest wading bird in the world. There are now probably 200 birds in the wild and the program continues. Lets keep our fingers crossed!

I’ve had a great time so far in New Zealand and yesterday I went on a successful boat trip on Milford Sound in lovely weather for another wanted species, another potential bird of the week. I’m now on my way back to Christchurch to return my splendid campervan – I shall be reluctant to return it.

Best wishes

Ian

—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: 0411 602 737 +61-411 602 737
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

Glad to see the Lord answers prayers. (See Addition – NZ/Australasian Shoveler) What a neat bird, glad you found it and didn’t give up. With them so few in numbers, that is a Great Catch!

I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. (Proverbs 8:17 KJV)

The Black Stilt is in the Recurviostridae Family of the Charadriiformes Order. There are 6 Stilts and 4 Avocets. Check out Ian’s Recurviostridae photos.

“Avocets and stilts range in length from 30 to 46 centimetres (12 to 18 in) and in weight from 140 to 435 grams (4.9 to 15.3 oz); males are usually slightly bigger than females.[1] All possess long, thin legs, necks, and bills. The bills of avocets are curved upwards, and are swept from side to side when the bird is feeding in the brackish or saline wetlands they prefer. The bills of stilts, in contrast, are straight. The front toes are webbed, partially in most stilts, fully in avocets and the Banded Stilt, which swim more. The majority of species’ plumage has contrasting areas of black and white, with some species having patches of buff or brown on the head or chest. The sexes are similar.” (Wikipedia)

Ian’s Bird of the Week – NZ/Australasian Shoveler

November 13, 2011 by Ian

Australasian Shoveler (Anas rhynchotis) by Ian Montgomery

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Australian Shoveler

Newsletter – 11/11/11

This is really just a token bird of the week as an apology for being late, having been busy preparing, packing and travelling. I’m now on the South Island of New Zealand and surrounded by introduced birds such as Eurasian Chaffinches and Blackbirds. I had a look for Black Stilt yesterday without success so here’s a male New Zealand Shoveler instead. At least that’s what they’re called here, even though they are the same species as the Australasian Shoveler. What ever, they’re gorgeous ducks.

Australasian Shoveler (Anas rhynchotis) by Ian

I’m going to have another try at the Black Stilt today so wish me luck: your collective goodwill has worked in the past! After that, I plan to head south towards Fiordland to see what I can find there.

Best wishes

Ian
—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: 0411 602 737 +61-411 602 737
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

Since Ian wrote a short note, I added a second one of his Australasian Shovelers to the newsletter. Click see his other Australasian Shoveler photos. Ian, will be praying you find your birds and for your safety. Trust you find your Black Stilts so we can have a look at them also.

The Shovelers are in the Anas genus of the Anatidae – Ducks, Geese & Swans Family. Ian’s Anatidae Index Page.

Cape Shoveler (Anas smithii) by Ian
Red Shoveler (Anas platalea) ©WikiC
Australasian Shoveler (Anas rhynchotis) by Ian
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) by Ian

Even though these birds could be eaten, many people like duck, I prefer to watch them instead. They are protected by:

If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days. (Deuteronomy 22:6-7 NKJV)

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Black-tailed Treecreeper

October 29, 2011 by Ian

Black-tailed Treecreeper (Climacteris melanurus) by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Black-tailed Treecreeper ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter – 10/28/11

I hope you like albatrosses and penguins as I leave in less than 2 weeks for a boat-trip to the so-called Sub-Antarctic island south of New Zealand and Australia and seabirds will, I hope, dominate the bird of the week for some time to come. In the meantime, here is a real landlubber, the Black-tailed Treecreeper, from northwestern Australia. It’s range extends from northwestern Queensland (Cloncurry district) through the Top End of the Northern Territory to the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia, with an isolated population of a paler race slightly farther south in the Pilbara region.

Black-tailed Treecreeper (Climacteris melanurus) by Ian

This bird is a male with a black throat with white streaks and the photo shows well the huge rear claws that it uses to climb trees. The photo also shows that Australo-Papuan Treecreepers (Climacteridae Family) usually don’t rely on their tails as a prop, unlike the unrelated Northern Hemisphere Treecreepers (Certhiidae) and Woodpeckers (Picidae). This photo was taken in tropical forest in Kakadu but this species also occurs in much more arid country with only scattered trees and it will feed on the ground, as in the second photo, taken at McNamara’s Road between Mount Isa and Camooweal. This bird is also a male: females have pale throats, but I haven’t got a good photo of one.

McNamaras Road by Ian

The main ground cover here is a prickly grass usually called spinifex (Triodia) and this site, third photo, is famous for its Carpentarian Grasswrens, but I remember it better for a hard night’s camping with a punctured airbed on this fourth-failed and final foray here in search of these elusive grasswrens – final because I was shown the grasswrens at another site two days later by Brian Venables who has much better hearing than I have! (Carpentarian Grasswren)

Best wishes
Ian

—

Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: 0411 602 737 +61-411 602 737
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

I am glad Ian is the one camping in an area like that last photo. That prickly grass doesn’t look too inviting. Those neat photos of the Treecreeper are worth it though. Thanks for sacrificing your airbed for them.

In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees. (Psalms 104:17 ESV)

The Climacteridae- Australian Treecreeper Family and the Certhiidae – Treecreepers Family are in the Passeriformes Order and the Picidae – Woodpeckers Family is in the Piciformes Order.

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Red-kneed Dotterel

October 17, 2011 by Ian

Red-kneed Dotterel (Erythrogonys cinctus) by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Red-kneed Dotterel ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter – 10-17-11

I’d chosen this for last week’s bird until the excitement over the Spotless Crake on Ross River pushed it into the background. Some would argue that the Red-kneed Dotterel is much more beautiful – and is also uncommon in Townsville – but it lacks the mystique of habitual lurkers like crakes that grant audiences only as a special privilege.

Red-kneed Dotterels live almost exclusively near fresh water and are rarely seen in tidal areas. The bird in the first photo was wading at sunset in the shallows of a tranquil pond near a bore at Bowra, an AWC reserve http://www.australianwildlife.org/Bowra.aspx near Cunnamulla in Southwestern Queensland. It was a lovely evening, and I was sitting in a camping chair with camera and tripod and mainly watching parrots and cockatoos coming in to drink: birding in style.

Red-kneed Dotterel (Erythrogonys cinctus) by Ian

The close-up, second photo was photographed at Melbourne Water’s euphemistically called Western Treatment Plant near Werribee on the shores of Port Phillip Bay, also a famous birding spot but not as pleasant for camping as Bowra. Red-kneed Dotterels (actually red-ankled) are small plovers, length 17-19cm/7-8in, not closely related to other ones such as the Black-fronted Dotterel: both are members of monotypic genera – containing only one species. Recent DNA studies have shown that the Red-kneed shows closer affinity to Lapwings than other plovers, which a certain physical resemblance supports, allowing for small size, a lack of wattles and better manners.

Red-kneed Dotterel (Erythrogonys cinctus) by Ian 3

Red-kneed Dotterels are adaptable and occur widely through the more arid regions of Australia, apart from deserts. The one in the third photo is a young bird hatched beside a small wetland near Birdsville produced by an overflow from the local geothermal power station that makes electricity from almost boiling water (98ºC) from the Great Artesian Basin http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/register/p00834aa.pdf .

Best wishes

Ian

Link: Black-fronted Dotterel also at Bowra at sunset:

—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://www.birdway.com.au/index.php

Lee’s Addition:

What a neat little bird. I love the clean lines and especially it’s knees or ankles. Ian, you captured it well! I am at the variety of birds you have there in Australia.

The Dotterels are in the Charadriidae – Plovers Family of the Charadriiformes Order. That order has 19 families of Shorebirds and their allies. Check out Ian’s Charadriidae Family photos – Click Here.

Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. (Job 4:4 KJV)

More Ian’s Bird of the Week

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Spotless Crake

October 11, 2011 by Ian

Spotless Crake (Porzana tabuensis) by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Spotless Crake ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter – 10/11/11

There’s no doubt as to what is currently the Bird of the Week in Townsville: the discovery of this Spotless Crake in a small patch of reedy grass beside Ross River just below Aplin’s Weir is causing great excitement. They’re rare here and the birder who circulated the news, thank you Marlene, could find only 5 records in Townsville since 1994, the last one being in 2000. Not having photographed one before, I got up at 5:40am this morning to have a second attempt at photographing it (it wasn’t very cooperative yesterday afternoon) and there was universal agreement that this was a noteworthy event as I’m famously not an early riser.

Spotless Crake (Porzana tabuensis) by Ian

In fact, the Crake wasn’t very cooperative this morning either, making only 3 brief appearances between 6:30 and 9:00am, really brief with the longest period between the first and last photo in a session being 6 seconds. It was definitely a question of using a tripod mounted camera focussed on its chosen spot. If you compare the first and second photos, taken 40 minutes apart, and look for the semicircular reed stem sticking out of the water near its bill, you’ll see that it was in almost exactly the same place on both occasions.

If you look in the background, you can see an out-of-focus and much larger Buff-banded Rail that was around at the same time, but completely overshadowed by its rarer cousin. The rail was much more forthcoming, and regularly paraded in full view to have its photo taken (at the risk of missing an appearance by the real star) as in the third photo.

Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis) by Ian

For comparison Spotless Crakes are 17-20cm/6.7-8in in length, while Buff-banded Rails are 28-33cm/11-13in. The names ‘crake’ and ‘rail’ are used taxonomically somewhat indiscriminately for these small secretive members of the Rallidae. For example, the Hawaiian and St Helena Rails belong to the same genus as most of the Australian Crakes (Porzanus). Still on names, it’s very unusual for birds to be named after features they lack, such as spots. In the Birdlife International list of birds of the world, about 10,000 species, I could find only 9 that are something-less: 2 are crestless, 3 are flightless, 2 are spotless and, prizewinner for strange names, the Northern and Southern Beardless Tyrannulets. I didn’t count Restless Flycatcher and the other spotless is the Spotless Starling.

Best wishes

Ian

—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: 0411 602 737 +61-411 602 737
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

Sounds like Ian’s Spotless Crake was the talk of the town, at least of the birder’s. I love the way Ian shows so much patience while he is out birdwatching. Most of us would give up and miss these neat photos. Thanks, Ian, for your patience.

That second bird, the Buff-banded Rail, is also a resident at the Lowry Park Zoo. I have been privileged of see it on vary rare occasions. The bird was hidden very well.

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (Romans 8:25 KJV)

Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis) by Lee at Lowry Pk Zoo

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Tropical Scrubwren

September 30, 2011 by Ian

Tropical Scrubwren (Sericornis beccarii) Female by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Tropical Scrubwren ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter – 9/30/11

Here’s another of my target species on the Cape York trip. It comes from the less spectacular end of the spectrum, far away from the Birds of Paradise, but I’m fond of Scrubwrens in general. They are plucky, vocal little birds with lots of character, so colourful plumage isn’t everything.

The one in the first photo is a female, distinguishable from the male by a plainer face pattern with lores – the bit between the eye and the bill – much the same colour as the rest of the head. The second photo shows a male and you can see the patterning on the face with dark lores with pale highlights above and below them.

Tropical Scrubwren (Sericornis beccarii) Male by Ian

The Tropical Scrubwren look like a cross between the Large-billed Scrubwren and the White-browed. It has a long, slightly-upwards pointing bill like the Large-billed but the wing pattern with dark, white-tipped wing-coverts look much more like those of the White-browed (the Large-billed has very plain plumage overall including the wings). In fact, there has been some doubt whether it’s a separate species from the Large-billed, but most authorities now accept that it is.

In Australia it occurs only on Cape York Peninsula from Cooktown northwards. Within its restricted range, it’s quite common and I found several pairs without much difficulty as they are quite vocal. The birds do, however, flit incessantly and almost invisibly through the dense undergrowth and foliage of the rainforest and are not easy to see well or photograph. They have reddish irises, but in the poor light of the rainforest, their pupils are very dilated and look black in most of the photos that I took. This species is widespread in PNG, where it is called Beccari’s Scrubwren.

Best wishes

Ian

Links:

Large-billed Scrubwren

White-browed Scrubwren

—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: 0411 602 737 +61-411 602 737
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

There are 13 Scrubwrens that make up the Sericornis Genus of the Acanthizidae – Australasian Warblers Family. The Passeriformes Order has the perching birds, of which this family belongs. I think they are cute, even if they are not very colorful. The video at the bottom of the Family link is of a very active Atherton Scrubwren (Sericornis keri) by Keith Blomerley. Those birds sound like the ones that give photographers the fits trying to take their picture.

The birds of the air have their resting-places by them, and make their song among the branches. (Psalms 104:12 BBE)

To see all of the Ian’s Bird of the Week – Click Here

Ian’s Bird of the Week – White-streaked Honeyeater

September 23, 2011 by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – White-streaked Honeyeater ~ by Ian Montgomery (Australia)

Newsletter ~ 09/23/11

Of the 4 species at the top of my wanted list on the trip to Iron Range, this one, the White-streaked Honeyeater, took the most effort to find and I found it only at the last possible location on the way home. Many Honeyeaters, including this one, are nomadic in search of flowering shrubs and trees so visiting a known site is no guarantee of success.

The White-streaked Honeyeater occurs only on Cape York Peninsula, north of about Cooktown. So, when I left Daintree village, rather than go the usual route via Julatten, I headed north through Cape Tribulation to Cooktown along the 4WD Bloomfield track, spent a couple of nights near Cooktown and then drove to Laura along Battlecamp Road to join the main Peninsula Development Road. Apart from the attraction of of a route I hadn’t travelled on before, both White-streaked Honeyeaters and Tropical Scrubwrens had been seen in July at a couple of river crossings along the way. Near Cooktown, I did a glimpse and an unflattering rear-view shot of the southern race (dubius) of the Tropical Scrubwren, but the Honeyeaters seemed to have moved on.

Their preferred habitats are heathland, open woodland and riverine forest so they don’t occur in the rainforest at Iron Range. A usually reliable site for them is the heathland at Tozer’s Gap on the way in but this time an orange grevillea was flowering everywhere in abundance, so the birds could have been anywhere. Happily, I caught up with some friends of mine who had just seen the honeyeater in paperbarks and bottlebrushes at the Wenlock River crossing on the same road. This is a 4 or 5 hour round trip from Iron Range, so I decided to risk waiting until my final departure and then I stopped for lunch at the crossing.

When I got there, the paperbarks had finished flowering but the bottlebrushes were still putting on a fine display. Even so, it took some diligent searching before I finally found a couple of White-streaked among the commoner Honeyeaters, mainly Dusky and Graceful. They seemed shy and preferred to remain hidden in the foliage, so I sat on a sandy bank in the river until they showed themselves. They are unusual honeyeaters with no close relatives and the sole member of the genus Trichodere (a ‘monotypic’ genus). ‘Trich’ comes from the Greek word for ‘hair’ and refers, as does ‘white-streaked’ to the bristle-like feathers on the breast (cf Trichoglossus – ‘hairy tongue’ – referring to the brush-like, nectar-licking tongues of Rainbow Lorikeets). Adults have yellow lines below the eye, a yellow ear tuft and a blue gape (photos 1 and 2). They also have yellow wings and tail: easier to see in the third photo of a juvenile which lacks the blue gape and has only a single yellow feather on the head but is beginning to develop the bristle-like breast feathers, also characteristic of adults.

In the second photo, the nest-like material below the bird is flood debris – a clear reminder that this part of the Cape York Peninsula is accessible by road only in the dry-season. The photo below shows the crossing at Wenlock River.

Crossing at Wenlock River by Ian #4

Misión completa, as my guide told me when we found the Resplendent Quetzals in Costa Rica.

Best wishes

Ian

—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: 0411 602 737 +61-411 602 737
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: (Proverbs 24:13 KJV)

Ian sure has persistence and patience. Ian, thanks again for sharing your birding trips with us.

As Ian mentioned, the Honeyeater is in a genus, Trichodere of the Meliphagidae – Honeyeaters Family. That family has 183 members at present. The family has not only Honeyeaters, but also Friarbirds, Wattlebirds, Bellbirds, Melidectes, Myzas, Myzomela, Straighbills, Spinebills, Chats, and a Gibberbird and others. Roughly half of the family live in Australia.

All 170 species of honeyeaters have a unique adaptation: a long tongue with a brush-like tip that they use to get nectar from flowers. The tongue can be extended into the nectar about 10 times per second!

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Magnificent Riflebird

September 12, 2011 by Ian

Magnificent Riflebird (Ptiloris magnificus) by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Magnificent Riflebird ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter – 9/12/11

We’ve been dealing with Birds of Paradise for the last couple of birds of the week, so here’s another one from Iron Range, the Magnificent Riflebird. This, like the Trumpet Manucode is easier to hear than see as it spends most of its time in the tall trees of the rainforest and on my previous two visits to this part of Cape York I’d seen only a few females. This time, the males were very vocal and actively courting females and I had more success, as in the first photo.

The ‘magnificent’ is appropriate as, with a length of 28-33cm/11-13in, it is the largest of the three Australian Riflebirds. (There is a fourth species of Riflebird, the Eastern or Growling Riflebird, in eastern PNG – recently split from the Magnificent Riflebird and distinguishable mainly by its call.) As you can see from the first photo, the blue shield on the throat and upper breast of the male is much larger than that of the other two Australian ones. It is also the only one of the three to have plumes along the flanks. These are hard to see on the first photo (except as a fuzzy area below the right wing) but are visible in the second photo both as a fuzzy line along the right side and as longer wiry plumes on either side of the tail.

Magnificent Riflebird (Ptiloris magnificus) by Ian

Like Victoria’s Riflebird the heavy plumage of the males make a swishing noise in flight as they sweep regally around in the canopy of the forest. Their usual call is like a wolf whistle and carries a long way, though I found that locating a male in this way was no guarantee of being able to see it. The male in the first photo was actively wooing an unimpressed or ambivalent female who flew away from him and landed on a branch in the open directly above me. She quickly realised that she was attracting my interest too, as in the third photo, and flew off again in renewed search of peace.

Magnificent Riflebird (Ptiloris magnificus) by Ian

The females are fairly different in appearance from the females of Victoria’s Riflebird with rufous upperparts and heavily barred underparts. (You may remember that the female Victoria’s has much greyer upper parts with less marked buff underparts). The fourth photo shows a female in a more typical pose, looking for grubs, Woodpecker-like, along the limbs and trunks of trees, though Riflebirds also eat fruit.

Magnificent Riflebird (Ptiloris magnificus) by Ian

Another spectacular bird in Iron Range was the Yellow-billed Kingfisher. It has featured as bird of the week before, so here is the link to the new Yellow-billed Kingfisher and on the Daintree we encountered plenty of Azure Kingfishers and Little Kingfishers .

The website, incidentally, had a record month in August with more than 9,300 visits, substantially up from previous records in July of 7,700 and in June of 7,200, with total downloads of about 4.5GB, also a record.

Best wishes
Ian
—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: 0411 602 737 +61-411 602 737
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

The Paradisaeidae Family is again presented by Ian. If you missed Ian’s other birds from this family, see:
Ian’s Bird of the Week – Trumpet Manucode
Ian’s Bird of the Week – Victoria’s Riflebird

Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! (Psalms 34:3 ESV)

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Trumpet Manucode

September 6, 2011 by Ian

Trumpet Manucode (Phonygammus keraudrenii) by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Trumpet Manucode ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter ~ 9/6/11

I’m back home now after the 2 week trip to Cape York and happy to be able to provide the hoped-for Bird of Paradise, the Trumpet Manucode, as bird of the week. Your collective moral/spiritual support clearly worked again, as it did with Snowy Owl in Alaska 3 years ago and Resplendent Quetzal in Costa Rica last year, so thank you very much. A bit of persistence probably helped too as Trumpet Manucodes are easy to hear but notoriously difficult to see, and this was my third visit to Iron Range/Lockhart River without getting more than distance glimpses in the thick foliage of the rainforest.

The first photo shows the crest and neck plumes that are erected in an apparently spectacular display. Although the males were calling, the breeding season doesn’t start until October so I didn’t see any display, though in the second photo the crest plumes are erect as the bird reaches for a fig.

Trumpet Manucode (Phonygammus keraudrenii) by Ian

Manucodes are 28-32cm/11-13in in length and the sexes are similar, though the females have duller plumage and orange rather than red eyes. This very tall tree, one of few that I found in fruit, was popular with other fruit-eaters such as Yellow Orioles, Barred Cuckoo-shrikes and Metallic Starlings. The Manucode seemed to have a rather proprietorial attitude to it and would sweep in majestically, making the other birds scatter.

Trumpet Manucodes have a long curved windpipe under the skin of the breast, which gives a wonderfully resonant quality to its trumpet call, rendered as ‘growng’ which carries a long way and can be attributed a mocking quality when you can’t find the bird! Their other main call is a gurgling ‘owwgk’ made when inhaling through the windpipe.

The Trumpet Manucode also occurs in New Guinea, where there are 4 other species of Manucode, most of which are illustrated here: http://australianmuseum.net.au/William-T-Coopers-Birds-of-Paradise?page=2&assetID= . The name Manucode is derived from the Malay ‘manuk dewata’ meaning “bird of the gods” so a parallel with the divine nature of the Resplendent Quetzal is easy to draw.

The rest of the trip went smoothly and I also got photos of the other species on my short list – Tropical Scrubwren, Green-backed and White-streaked Honeyeaters – and a few others besides, which I’ll be sharing with you in the coming weeks.

Links:
Resplendent Quetzal
Snowy Owl
Green/Yellow Oriole
Barred Cuckoo-shrike
Metallic Starling

Best wishes
Ian

—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: 0411 602 737 +61-411 602 737
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

I am glad our thoughts and prayers worked and helped you stay persistent. Those of us that remember you also have selfish motives. We thoroughly enjoy getting to see your great finds. Sounds like a “win-win” situation.

The Manucode, as Ian mentioned is in the Bird-of-Paradise family. That Family, the Paradisaeidae, has 41 species in 16 genera. There are 5 Manucodes; the Trumpet (Ian’s), Glossy-mantled, Jobi, Crinkle-collard and the Curl-crested Manucode. Riflebirds are also part of the family and Ian has photos of the Magnificent, Victoria’s and Paradise Riflebirds on his site.

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Victoria’s Riflebird

August 22, 2011 by Ian

Victoria's Riflebird (Ptiloris victoriae) by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Victoria’s Riflebird ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter ~ 8/21/11

I’m on my way to Iron Range and this may be my last internet connection, so here is a hasty posting which I’ll keep brief. In keeping with the spirit of the search for the Trumpet Manucode, here is one of the other 3 Australian Birds of Paradise, the Victoria’s Riflebird, which is found in the Wet Tropics between Cooktown and Townsville. The males, as in photo 1, are quite spectacular with iridescent purplish black plumage highlighted with blue and a yellow gape as the final touch. The feathers have a satiny texture which rustles audibly in flight like an elaborate ball gown.

The females look quite different, and are beautiful in a more sober style as in the second photo.

Victoria's Riflebird (Ptiloris victoriae) by Ian - female

The bird in the third photo is a young male, like the female but just beginning to acquire the hummingbird-like reflective plumage on the head.

Victoria's Riflebird (Ptiloris victoriae) by Ian - young male

As you’d expect from a bird of paradise, the promiscuous male has a spectacular display in which curves the wings in a circle around the head and moves them back and forward like a fan. Unfortunately, I haven’t photographed this yet. Conforming to the inverse avian correlation between beauty in appearance and voice, the Riflebird, as suggested by its name, has a harsh call that would shatter crystal at a hundred yards and is often the first indication that these birds are present.

Like many fruit-eating birds, they are hard to spot in the foliage of trees but they come readily to houses if fruit is left out for them. All these photos were taken in such circumstances around Paluma north of Townsville and the birds are quite common in suitable habitat.

Unlike the Riflebirds, and again as indicated by the name, the Trumpet Manucode has a spectacular and strange call, which I’ll be listening for carefully if I get to Iron Range in a day or two.

Best wishes

Ian

—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: 0411 602 737 +61-411 602 737
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

This fantastic bird is in the Bird of Paradise – Paradisaeidae Family of the Passeriformes Order. Ian has a Magnificent Riflebird, the Victoria’s and the Paradise Riflebird on his website.

Thought you might enjoy seeing a Victoria’s Riflebird displaying. YouTube by vanityvehicle.

And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:42-43 KJV)

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Campbell/Black-browed Albatross

August 14, 2011 by Ian

Campbell Albatross (Thalassarche impavida) by Ian

Campbell Albatross (Thalassarche (melanophris impavida) by Ian 1

Another belated bird of the week, so this time you get two species, or maybe only one as we’ll see shortly. Welcome, in a nutshell, to the glory of Albatrosses and the nightmare of bird taxonomy, where I’ve been lately trying to help sort out the final bird list for the digital Pizzey and Knight.

Let’s start by comparing the bird in photo #1 with the one in #2, taken within 6 minutes of each another on a pelagic bird-watching trip from Port Fairy in southern Victoria on 22 July 2001. In those days, when life was simple, we called them both Black-browed Albatrosses. I mention the date as only 5 days later a paper was accepted for publication by the Journal of Molecular Biology which supported the splitting of this species into at least two, the Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) which nests in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the Campbell Albatross (Thalassarche impavida), endemic to Campbell Island south of New Zealand.

Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) by Ian 2

Definitely a spot the difference puzzle and by now you have found the two features visible in birds not in flight: the adult Campbell Island Albatross has a more strongly marked brow, which makes it look crosser, and a pale iris, which, I think, makes it look slightly manic like the Blue-winged Kookaburra. The underwing patterns are different too. The Campbell is much darker with only a faint central band of white as in photo #3, taken off Wollongong in New South Wales.

Campbell Albatross (Thalassarche (melanophris impavida) by Ian 3

At even a short distance, the colour of the iris is hard to see, so the underwing pattern is a better field mark for birds in flight, as in the sub-adult Campbell Albatross in photo #4.

Campbell Albatross (Thalassarche (melanophris impavida) by Ian 4

Campbell T. impavida if you follow Birdlife International. The different spellings melanophris and melanophrys aren’t typos. Temminck originally spelt it with an ‘i’ but the taxonomists Jouanin and Mougin, Latin scholars obviously, though Temminck couldn’t spell and it should be a ‘y’ and that has been adopted by Birdlife International. C&B uphold the rule that says the original spelling should stand, and stick to the ‘i’.

Welcome to the nit-picking world of bird taxonomy. Does it matter? It does if you want to know how many birds are on your list and it matters if you are a conservationist. Governments are much more willing to provide funds and resources to protect threatened species that they are for sub-species and many of the Albatross types, or taxons, are threatened by long-line fishing. Linnaeus set out in the 18th Century to impose order on a chaotic scientific world with his binomial naming scheme, long before Darwin’s Origin of Species. It’s probably just as well he’s not around to see the result.

Back at the website, I’ve recently finished reformatting the galleries with improved layout, easier navigation and larger photos. I started the process in May 2010 and said then that it would take a long time (over 1,300 galleries) and it’s good to put it behind me. To celebrate, I’m joining the local Birds Australia (BANQ) in Daintree next weekend and then going to Cape York to chase a few species missing from the wanted list for the digital Pizzey and Knight (Trumpet Manucode, Tropical Scrubwren, White-lined and Green-backed Honeyeater). Wish me luck as I’d love to produce the Manucode, one of the 4 species of bird of paradise found in Australia, as a bird of the week. The Daintree weekend includes one or two boat trips on the Daintree River and birding walks, so join us if you can. All are welcome, so check out the details on the BANQ website http://www.birdsaustralianq.org/#Coming .

Best wishes
Ian

—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: 0411 602 737 +61-411 602 737
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

Whew! Okay, Ian, I think I followed all of that! As I have been saying, this naming and re-naming, splitting and glumping can get confusing. I still contend that Adam had it a whole lot easier. I have been going through those changes when the IOC World Bird List comes about about every 3 months. Keep up the good work, Ian. No matter what you call them, those are fantastic photos of the Albatrosses.

After checking out Ian’s Albatrosses, the look up the whole family, Diomedeidae-Albatrosses, here.

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”
(Genesis 1:20 ESV)

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Double-eyed Fig-Parrot

August 2, 2011 by Ian

Double-eyed Fig Parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma macleayana) by Ian

I wonder why miniature things are so endearing. Describing something as ‘the smallest’ immediately attracts attention, so here is the smallest parrot in Australia – with one of the longest and strangest names – the Double-eyed Fig-Parrot. Strictly speaking the Cape York race of this species (marshalli) is the smallest with a length of 13cm/5in – shorter than a house sparrow. More accessible and nearly as small (14cm) is the race found in northeastern Queensland (macleayana), quite common around Cairns and on the Atherton Tableland, where the first photo was taken.

Double-eyed Fig Parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma macleayana) by Ian

The races and genders are distinguishable by different facial patterns. This is a male macleayana and has a red forehead and cheek separated by a sky-blue patch and an indigo fringe to the red cheek patch. The second photo is also a male macleayana but nearly hidden in the foliage; this is typical and these birds can be hard to see as they creep around mouse-like through fruiting trees in rainforest.

Double-eyed Fig Parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma macleayana) by Ian

The female and juvenile macleayana are similar to the male but lacks the red cheek patch, as in the two birds in the third photo.

The fourth photo shows a female of the Cape York race, marshalli, with no red at all. I lack a photo of the male marshalli but it is rather similar to the male macleayana except that the red forehead and cheek patches are contiguous.

Double-eyed Fig Parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma marshalli) by Ian

The third and remaining Australian race, coxeni, is the largest (16cm) and rarest – classified as endangered – and occurs in a few river valleys between Maryborough in southeast Queensland and the Macleay River in northern New South Wales. Both sexes apparently have mainly blue foreheads and small reddish cheek patches.

These three races were originally treated as separate species and known as Macleay’s or Red-browed, Coxen’s or Blue-browed and Marshall’s Fig-Parrots. Later they and five races in Papua New Guinea were lumped into a single species and acquired the common name of the nominate Double-eyed Fig-Parrot of PNG (Cyclopsitta diophthalma diophthalma). This has a dark spot near each eye, giving it its double-eyed appearance, but the name is not descriptive of the races that lack the dark spot, i.e. the three Australian races. Oh well, they got the fig bit right.

Best wishes
Ian
—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: 0411 602 737 +61-411 602 737
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:
Those cute little Fig Parrots are in the Parrots – Psittacidae Family of the Psittaciformes Order which not only includes Parrot family, but also the New Zealand Parrots and Cockatoos.

He will bless those who fear the LORD, Both small and great. (Psalms 115:13 NKJV)

Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus

Birdwatching from a Christian Perspective

Author Archives: Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Black Stilt

Ian’s Bird of the Week – NZ/Australasian Shoveler

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Black-tailed Treecreeper

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Red-kneed Dotterel

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Spotless Crake

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Tropical Scrubwren

Ian’s Bird of the Week – White-streaked Honeyeater

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Magnificent Riflebird

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Trumpet Manucode

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Victoria’s Riflebird

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Campbell/Black-browed Albatross

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Double-eyed Fig-Parrot

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