Ian’s Bird of the Week – Bower’s Shrike-thrush

December 10, 2013 by Ian

Bower’s Shrikethrush (Colluricincla boweri) by Ian

Bird of the Week – Bower’s Shrike-thrush ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter ~ 12-09-13

We spent several days last week camping on the Atherton Tableland at Malanda Falls Caravan Park. It’s a great caravan park incidentally as it borders on rainforest and is within walking distance of both Malanda Falls and the Conservation Park across the road. My aim was to photograph locations for the book Where to Find Birds in NE Queensland but I was of course on the lookout for any obliging birds, in particular the wet tropic endemic Bower’s Shrike-thrush and the local race of the Yellow-throated Scrubwren, both of which I’d found uncooperative in the past.

One of the spots I visited was Mobo Creek Crater about 10km along the Danbulla Forest Drive from the Gillies Highway end. I hadn’t been there before and found it a delightful spot as the path twice crosses the creek near the crater. I spent some time photographing the local resident, rather dark race of the Grey Fantail (we get the southern race here as a visitor in winter). While, I was doing so, a Bower’s Shrike-thrush came to the creek for a swim. The first photo shows her checking out a small pool from a rock in the creek.

Bower’s Shrikethrush (Colluricincla boweri) by Ian

She then jumped into the creek and had a good swim, before jumping back out on the original rock, photos 2 and 3.

Bower’s Shrikethrush (Colluricincla boweri) by Ian

Then a good shake, fourth photo, and a rather bedraggled but satisfied-looking bird returned to the rainforest. You can tell it’s a female from the grey bill with a pinkish tinge and the buff eye-ring, lores and eyebrow. Males have black bills and grey eye-ring, lores and eyebrow.

Bower’s Shrikethrush (Colluricincla boweri) by Ian

Bower’s Shrike-thrush is one of the 12 species endemic to the Wet Tropics of northeastern Queensland. It is found in highland rainforest above 400m from just south of Cooktown to just north of Townsville and is reasonably common within this relatively restricted range.

Shrike-thrushes get their name from their slightly hooked shrike-like bills and their thrush-like appearance and melodious songs. Bower’s Shrike-thrush has a distinctive whistling song that sounds to me like ‘we you you cha cha cha’ and we heard them at a number of sites during our stay. They are related to Whistlers and are sometimes placed in the same family, Pachycephalidae – ‘thick-heads’ as you may remember from the Rufous Whistler bird of the week last month – or placed in their own family the Colluricinclidae.

Yellow-throated Scrubwren (Sericornis citreogularis) by Ian

Here, incidentally, is a male of the local race of the Yellow-throated Scrubwren that I wanted also for the book. A pair of them emerged into the car park at Millaa Millaa Falls after the last tourist buses had departed.

Best wishes
Ian

**************************************************
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Tel 0411 602 737 ian@birdway.com.au
Bird Photos http://www.birdway.com.au/
Recorder Society http://www.nqrs.org.au

Lee’s Addition:

For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land–a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; (Deuteronomy 8:7 NIV)

He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head. (Psalms 110:7 KJV)

Thanks again, Ian. We don’t get to see birds taking a bath that frequently. At least, not in a stream. Dippers do that, but take a dive also.

Here is the sound of the Shrike-thrush from xeno-canto. It really is neat.

As Ian mentioned in his newsletter, the Shrikethrush belong to the Pachycephalidae – Whistlers and Allies Family (IOC), which is where we have it here, or the Colluricinclidae Family. which is where Ian has it listed. He also uses Shrike-thrush, whereas the IOC uses Shrikethrush.

See:

Ian’s Bird of the Week
Ian’s Colluricinclidae Family
Ian’s Pachycephalidae Family
Pachycephalidae – Whistlers and Allies Family

Ian’s Bird of the Week – American (and Pacific) Golden Plover

November 30, 2013 by Lee

American Golden Plover (Pluvialis dominica) by Ian 1

Ian’s Bird of the Week – American (and Pacific) Golden Plover ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter ~ 11/29/13

Before we get onto Golden Plovers, here is some good news. The Pizzey and Knight Birds of Australia Digital Edition has now been published. The Windows PC version is available from www.gibbonmm.com.au and the iPad, iPhone and iPad version is available from the iTunes store. You can check it out here: www.gibbonmm.com.au/tour/PKBA_iOS.aspx and here: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/pizzey-knight-birds-australia/id714625973?mt=8. The Android version has not yet been published but is due before Christmas.

It has been a long time coming, but a quick look at the reviews will show why. It’s very much more than just a field guide, though even the Field Guide/Bird Guide modules set new standards with very thorough descriptions, both illustrations and photos (including many of mine) of more than 900 bird species, sounds of more than 700 species, maps showing subspecies and seasonal variation and breeding and modules for Similar Birds, Identification, My Location, My Lists and Birding Sites. Check it out for yourself!

I’ve just been down to Bowen and Ayr checking out locations and taking photos for the digital version of Jo Wieneke’s Where to Find Birds in North-east Queensland, and have visited beaches and mudflats I had waders on the brain when I was considering the choice of this week’s bird. So when I noticed in my iPad version of Pizzey and Knight, that the 2009 record of an American Golden Plover at Boat Harbour NSW – second photo – had been accepted by the BirdLife Australia Rarities Committee (Pizzey and Knight is very thorough!) I thought Aha, let’s do a comparison of Pacific and American Golden Plovers.

American Golden Plover (Pluvialis dominica) by Ian 1

Waders in non-breeding plumage are often rather drab and very confusing for identification but some of them are sartorially quite splendid when breeding. To see Northern Hemisphere waders in breeding plumage, Australian birders need to be either lucky just before the birds leave Australia in March or follow them to their breeding grounds. I first photographed the American Golden Plovers beside an icy lake in Barrow on the northern tip of Alaska in June 2008, first photo. Gorgeous birds they are with striking black and white and gold spangled upper parts and black bellies and faces with a broad white band along the sides of the neck and upper breast.

In March the following year, I was in Sydney and visited my accountant in Sutherland at a time when there was an unconfirmed report of a non-breeding American Golden Plover at nearby Boat Harbour on the Kurnell Peninsula near Botany Bay. This bird was in a flock of about 30 Pacific Golden Plovers, the species that is the common one in Australia in the southern summer/northern winter. Non-breeding Golden Plovers are notoriously difficult to separate from one another and at that stage 5 out of 7 reports of American Golden Plovers submitted to the Rarities Committee had been rejected. Having both species together made it much easier, as one bird stood as clearly different from the others, with much greyer plumage and white rather than buff facial markings (comparing photos 2 and 4).

American Golden Plover (Pluvialis dominica) by Ian 2

Plumage is variable, of course, and not enough for definite identification in this case. The situation was complicated by the Pacific Golden Plovers beginning to change into breeding plumage. The bird in the third photo, for example, is in nearly complete breeding plumage, though the black plumage still has grey patches. In this plumage, the most obvious field mark is the white band along the neck and breast. In the Pacific, it is narrower and much more extensive than the band in the American one and extends down the side of the lower breast to the undertail coverts.

Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva) by Ian 3

There are differences in size too, the American being larger, heavier-billed and relatively shorter-legged but these are variable too and only reliable if you have birds in the hand and a statistically large sample. So, at the end of the day, the committee wanted to know about relative lengths of tails, primary and tertiary wing feathers of resting birds. These can be judged from photos as well as in the hand and the submitters of the rarity report included one of my photos. The wing tips of Pacific Golden Plovers do not extend much beyond the tail, but the wing tips of American ones extend about 50mm beyond it.

Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva) by Ian 4

So, those are the lengths you need to go both literally and figuratively sometimes to identify rare birds! The Pacific Golden Plover nests mainly in northern Russia but its breeding range does extend to western Alaska and overlaps with that of the American Golden Plover, so there is no doubt that they are separate biological species. If all this seems a bit arcane, don’t worry: just enjoy the photos. Golden Plovers of any hue are lovely birds and I always enjoy seeing them.

Best wishes
Ian

Lee’s Addition:

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. (Proverbs 25:11 KJV)

Thanks, Ian, for more lessons on how to identify birds, especially these two plovers. I have had the privilege of seeing the American Golden Plover, but not the Pacific one. It does look like specks of gold on their wings. The only bird mentioned with golden feathers in the Bible is the dove.

Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, You will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, And her feathers with yellow gold.” (Psalms 68:13 NKJV)

Ian didn’t mention their songs, but here are the two from xeno-canto. Both by Andrew Spencer.

American Golden Plover – song

Pacific Golden Plover – call and song

There are actually three Golden Plovers:

See:

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Rufous Whistler

November 13, 2013 by Ian

Bird of the Week #493: Rufous Whistler ~ by Ian Montgomery

Here’s another good candidate for bird of the week that has slipped through the cracks. It’s a good candidate because it’s an attractive bird that sounds beautiful as well. Males are grey and black with a rufous belly, white throat and black breast band and look very dapper. The bird in the first two photos belongs to the nominate race rufiventris, widespread through most of mainland Australia but absent from Tasmania. Males of the nominate race have black eyebrows and lores (the area between the eye and the bill), more obvious in the first photo.

Rufous Whistlers are very vocal with a rich vocabulary which includes loud calls with a Whipbird-like finish – probably territorial between males – repeated ‘joey-joey-joey’ song and trills. The ‘joey’ song note, repeated up to 30 times, is sung by both sexes alternating and accompanied by a seesawing dancing motion of the body. This is wonderful to watch, and the male in the second photo is in mid-performance. The trills are apparently only made by the male.

The third photo shows a female with grey back and rufous belly and streaked throat and breast.

Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris) Female by Ian

Juveniles are similar to females, but with browner upper-parts, heavier streaks, bills with a pale base, and rufous edges to the flight feathers (as do immatures of other species such as the Golden Whistler), fourth photo.

Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris) Juvenile by Ian

Several other races have been described in Northern Australia, and the males of these generally lack the black eyebrow, see the fifth photo. This bird belongs to perhaps the most distinctive race pallida which has a much paler belly, and this race is found in Cape York, e.g. the Mitchell River Catchment, and Northwestern Queensland.

Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris pallida) by Ian

The large heads of the Whistlers gives the genus the unflattering name Pachycephala (‘thick-head’) and the family the name Pachycephalidae – http://www.birdway.com.au/pachycephalidae/index.htm.

Best wishes
Ian

Lee’s Addition:

He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come! (Isaiah 5:26 ESV)

Xeno-canto Rufous Whistlers

What a beautiful sound that Whistler is making. Must be nice to hear them in person. The bird is also an attractive bird. They belong to the Pachycephalidae – Whistlers and Allies Family which has 52 species in it. Predominantly a reddish-brown and grey bird, it makes up for its subdued plumage with its song-making ability. Like many other members of the Pachycephalidae, it has a variety of musical calls.

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.

The whistlers are stout birds with strong bills, and the group was once known as the thickheads due to the large rounded heads of many species. Their plumage is rufous, brown, or grey in the majority of species. Nevertheless a few species, particularly the Golden Whistler and its close relatives, have bright plumage. One of the more unusual traits of this family is found in the feathers of some of the pitohuis, which have toxins. These toxins are probably a deterrent to parasites and may also serve to dissuade predators from taking the birds. (Wikipedia)

See:

Ian’s Pachycephalidae Family

Pachycephalidae – Whistlers and Allies Family – Here

Ian’s Bird of the Week

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Spotted Pardalote

October 30, 2013 by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Spotted Pardalote ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter ~ 10/30/13

I mentioned a while ago that while preparing photos for the electronic version of the book Where to Find Birds in North-East Queensland by Jo Wieneke (http://www.nqbirds.com), I found that many bird species hadn’t yet had their moment of fame as bird of the week. Spotted Pardalote is one and a surprising omission as pardalotes – http://www.birdway.com.au/pardalotidae/index.htm – are among the most of beautiful small Australian birds. The first photo shows a male of the nominate red-rumped race.

At 8-10cm/3.2-4in in length, the Spotted Pardalote is one of the smallest and only the Weebill (8-9cm) is consistently smaller. Because of the square spots on the wing, it is also called the Diamondbird, risking dreadful puns about ‘gems’. The female is similar, but not so strongly marked and lacks the yellow throat, second photo. Both these birds were close to the ground, but they spend a lot of time in the upper foliage of tall trees, where they’re very hard to see well. All the pardalotes, however, have distinctive calls, very loud for such small birds, and this usually reveals their presence.

The third photo shows a slightly uncertain-looking juvenile. These are similar to females, but the markings are less obvious: in particular the background colour of the crown is grey rather blackish.

Spotted Pardalotes usually nest in burrows in sand banks or road cuttings. If you surprise one near the ground, there’s a good chance that there is a nest nearby. The range of the Spotted Pardalote includes eastern and southern mainland Australia from Northeastern Queensland to SW Western Australia and Tasmania.

I’ve been continuing to add reptiles to the website. The latest lot are lizards, mainly dragons http://www.birdway.com.au/lacertilia/index.htm. Here is one of the more spectacular, the gorgeous Boyd’ Forest Dragon, endemic to Northeastern Queensland.

Progress with Jo’s book has been steady. I’ve added all the bird photos (over 400) and have just finished adding website-like internal links from all the places to all the birds and back again to make navigation easier. The next thing is to visit as many places as possible to check that the information is still up-to-date and get lots of location photos. That stage will start get underway seriously towards the end of November when a birding pal Madeleine joins me from Sydney for the travelling.

Best wishes
Ian

Lee’s Addition:

The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. (Isaiah 43:20 KJV)

Wow! I really like those Pardalotes and that Dragon is really neat also.

The Pardalotes belong to the Pardalotidae Family and only has the Spotted, Forty-spotted, Red-browed, and the Striated Pardalotes.

Pardalotes or peep-wrens are a family, Pardalotidae, of very small, brightly coloured birds native to Australia, with short tails, strong legs, and stubby blunt beaks. This family is composed of four species in one genus, Pardalotus, and several subspecies. The name derives from a Greek word meaning “spotted”. The family once contained several other species now split into the family Acanthizidae.

Pardalotes spend most of their time high in the outer foliage of trees, feeding on insects, spiders, and above all lerps (a type of sap sucking insect). Their role in controlling lerp infestations in the eucalyptus forests of Australia may be significant. They generally live in pairs or small family groups but sometimes come together into flocks after breeding.

Pardalotes are seasonal breeders in temperate areas of Australia but may breed year round in warmer areas. They are monogamous breeders, and both partners share nest construction, incubation and chick rearing duties. All four species nest in deep horizontal tunnels drilled into banks of earth. Externally about the size of a mouse-hole, they can be very deep, at a metre or more. Some species also nest in tree hollows.

See:

Ian’s Birdway Photos of Pardalotidae Family
More of Ian’s Bird of the Week
Pardalotidae – Pardalotes Family
Spotted Pardalote – Wikipedia
Pardalote – Wikipedia

Thank You – One Million And Counting!

October 20, 2013 by Lee

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. (1 Chronicles 16:34 NKJV)

Thank you!

Thank you!!

–

THANK YOU!!!

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, (Philippians 1:3 NKJV)

Wow!

Just had the 1 Millionth page view on this blog.

Without the Lord’s leading, His help and your visits to this blog, this would not have happened. I am so appreciative for every one of you who have visited throughout the years and also put up with my good and not-so-good articles. The blog started in February of 2008, but was moved here to WordPress in July of 2008. That is when this count started. Here are the dates of milestones that are in the Sidebar.

My special thanks goes to Stephen, our assistant to the Pastor at my church (Faith Baptist of Winter Haven) for suggesting that I write about the Birds of the Bible on the church’s Blog – The Fountain. That was on Blogspot. I started a blog of my own, to learn how to lay it out. That is when Lee’s Birdwatching Adventures Plus was started. We both moved our blogs off of Blogspot over the years.

Also, a big thanks to all my regular and guest writers.

Thanks to Visitors

Moved to WordPress 00,000 – July 05, 2008
50,000 – Oct 10, 2009
100,000 – Apr 5, 2010
150,000 – Sep 6, 2010
200,000 – Dec 30, 2010
250,000 – Apr 9, 2011
300,000 – June 29, 2011
350,000 – Sep 19, 2011
400,000 – Nov 18, 2011
450,000 – Jan 21, 2012
500,000 – Mar 1, 2012
600,000 – May 24, 2012
700,000 – Sep 2, 2012
800,000 – Dec 16, 2012
900,000 – Ap 13, 2013
1,000,000 – Oct 20, 2013
1st 500+ Day (568) Oct 29, 2009
1st 600+ Day (637) Sep 28, 2010
1st 700+ Day (722) Apr 4, 2011
1st 800+ Day (810) May 18, 2011
1st 900+ Day (955) Oct 2, 2011
1st 1000+ Day (1,016) Oct 20, 2011
1st 2,000+ Day (2,220) Feb 10, 2012
1st 3,000+ Day (3896) Feb 21, 2013

Links to the very first few articles on Lee’s Birdwatching Adventures original site copied over here:

Looking back at them, I trust you like the ones being produced now much better. Hey, it was a learning curve back then. These are the first seven articles on Lee’s Birdwatching Adventures Plus when it first started up here:

Thank You again for all your visits, likes, comments, and encouragements.

Lee

P.S. I really have no way of knowing who the 1,000,000th visitor was, but we were at lunch with friends and kept watching the count. Saw 1,000,002 at around 1:20pm EST. Checking the Sitemeter after arriving home, someone from Brazil came in about 1:18, looked at 14 pages. Also at 1:20 an unknown came in, and at 1:22 a visitor arrived from Chicopee, Massachusetts. (This is just for trivia.)

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Tooth-billed Bowerbird II

October 9, 2013 by Ian

Tooth-billed Bowerbird (Scenopoeetes dentirostris) Court by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Tooth-billed Bowerbird ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter ~ 10/9/13

At the weekend, I followed some friends for an overnight stay at Paluma, the small village in highland rainforest about 60km north of Townsville. and they took me to view 4 display courts of the Tooth-billed Bowerbird near the village that they had already checked out. This species featured as bird of the week three years ago, but it’s an interesting subject and I got better photos this time. In contrast to some of the bowerbirds, it is sombre in plumage and cryptic in pattern but makes up for this with unique behaviour.

Alone among the promiscuous bowerbirds (the catbirds are monogamous), the male doesn’t build a bower to attract females but has a display platform or court, a cleared space on the forest floor with a central tree trunk or stem and it decorates the court with the leaves of rainforest trees, carefully placed lower side up. The central tree in the first photo is smaller than usual, but I’ve chosen this one as there are signs of the bird having chewed through some offending shoot near to it to keep the space clear. The same court is used from one year to another and the courts of different males may be relatively close proximity (50-100m/yards) to each other in what is called an extended lek. and there were four courts along the path where we were.

The males sing a strange, loud and varied song with lots of mimicry from perches above the court. So during the breeding season – September to January – they are quite easy to find. The vegetation in their preferred habitat is dense so hearing them is easier than seeing them and seeing them is easier than photographing them: the second photo is a fairly typical view of one through the foliage.

When they’re singing, they are fairly approachable and I got quite close to this one before it flew up onto an unencumbered branch above the court and continued singing in full view (third photo). The fourth photo is cropped to show both the toothed edge to the lower mandible and the ridged inside of the upper one, a clever designed mechanism of chewing off leaves. Some while later, at another court we saw a male pick and drop a leaf, which it let fall. It then picked another on and flew off with it in the direction of its court. Apparently, it is not unusual for the birds to steal the leaves of other males, so there is the same competition for accumulating decorations as in other bowerbirds.

I recorded the calls of three males on my phone and included one of the files below.

Last week, I mentioned a pending Snake of the Week and this aroused some interest, so here it is. I photographed this small whip snake seven years ago in a dry area in far Northwestern Queensland near the border with the Northern Territory. We tried to identify it by consulting a weighty tome on the Reptiles of Australia, but failed to find anything that quite matched it and gave up.

Sombre Whip Snake by Ian

Some years later, I bought the 2008 edition of A Complete Guide to the Reptiles of Australia by Steve Wilson and Gerry Swan. It contains an Appendix which starts: “Late in the preparation of this 2008 revised second edition, a timely study of small tropical whip snakes (Demansia) was published. The work formally recognises additional species of these swift diurnal snakes, some of which have been familiar to herpetologists for many years.” So, there you are: the first time I’ve photographed a yet to be described species of vertebrate; it doesn’t often happen with birds.

I’ve been adding Primates http://www.birdway.com.au/primates/index.htm, Lizards http://www.birdway.com.au/lacertilia/index.htm and Snakes http://www.birdway.com.au/ophidia/index.htm to the Other Wildlife section of the website, hence the interest in snakes.

Best wishes
Ian

Lee’s Addition:

What a neat bird and description of them. Now we not only get to see them, but hear them also. Thanks again, Ian, for allowing me to share these newsletters.

The snake, is interesting also, though I am not a big snake fan. I know most are beneficial and I don’t go out of my way to kill them, I just keep my distance.

White-eared Catbird (Ailuroedus buccoides) at National Aviary

Bowerbirds are an interesting group of birds. They belong to the Ptilonorhynchidae – Bowerbirds Family, which has twenty members currently. Looking at the Family page, I realized this is the second time Ian has written about the Tooth-billed Bowerbird. That was in August of 2010.

Fawn-breasted Bowerbird (Chlamydera cerviniventris) Bower at Zoo Miami

We were able to see the White-eared Catbird at Zoo Miami and at the National Aviary. At Zoo Miami, the keeper showed me the bower of the Fawn-breasted Bowerbird. You can see how he lined his bower with leaves. Unfortunately the birds were off display at the time.

White-eared Catbird (Ailuroedus buccoides) – Photo by Lee at Zoo Miami

Bowerbirds by Ian – Photos

Ian’s Bird of the Week

Tooth-billed Bowerbird – Wikipedia

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Freckled Duck

September 30, 2013 by Ian

Freckled Duck (Stictonetta naevosa) by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Freckled Duck ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter ~ 9/30/13

Several friends have inquired how I got on with the quest for Freckled Duck photos a fortnight ago, so here it is as bird of the week as it’s a rare and unusual duck, even if these ones didn’t want to cooperate in the portrait photo category. There were perhaps a dozen or more at the reported site of Hasties Swamp just south of Atherton town, but only two came within cooee of the hide and spent most of the day sitting on this log. Note the diagnostic ski-jump-shaped bill and the slight peak on the head of the bird on the end of the log. The duck beside this one is a Hardhead, so they’re approximately the same size.

It was a lovely day at Hasties (second photo), so it was no hardship loafing there waiting for the ducks to do something. The log the ducks liked is the farther one in this photo, but this was taken with my phone and makes it look farther away than it actually is. It’s a two storey hide, and this was taken from the upper deck, though I spent most of the time downstairs. The log was popular with various species of ducks including Pacific Blacks and Grey Teal, so the Freckled Ducks, all in non-breeding garb were easy to overlook.

Very occasionally, one of the ducks would swim over to a smaller log (hidden behind the branch in the second photo) and peck at a coot if it came too close. You can see the coot in the third photo.

Freckled Duck (Stictonetta naevosa) by Ian

Sometimes it would swim away to feed, but always on the other side of the log. In the fourth photo it is maybe contemplating such a foray, and is testing the water behind one of several Nankeen Night-Herons that came out to feed in the late afternoon – apparently they roost in the trees near the hide.

Freckled Duck (Stictonetta naevosa) by Ian

The fifth photo shows a distant pair of Freckled Ducks thirteen years ago in breeding condition at Werribee in Victoria and you can see the characteristic red colour of the male. The peaks look more conspicuous on both sexes, but I don’t know whether these feathers grow longer then or whether they are erectile.

Freckled Duck (Stictonetta naevosa) by Ian

So why is this rather drab duck so interesting to both birders and avian taxonomists? Firstly, it’s endemic to Australia and rare, particular in North Queensland. It’s main breeding range is in inland areas of New South Wales, Victoria, Southern Western Australia (an isolated population) and the channel country of Southwestern Queensland where breeding takes place in densely vegetated lakes and swamps, including lignum in more arid floodplains. When these areas dry out, the birds move to the coast, which is when they become easier to find. Presumably the birds currently in North Queensland (they’ve been reported in both Townsville and the Atherton Tableland) are from the Cooper’s Creek and Paroo River catchments.

Secondly, taxonomists find the Freckled Duck interesting because it has no close relatives. It is the only member of the genus Stictonetta and both morphological and DNA studies support placing it in own sub-family that diverged from other ducks and geese very early on. The name Stictonetta means ‘spotted duck’ in Greek and, in a case of tautological overkill, naevosa means ‘spot abundance’ in Latin.

I was going to include a Snake of the Week but this is getting rather long, so I’ll hold it over till next time.

Best wishes
Ian

Lee’s Addition:

What birdwatchers and photographers won’t go through to find those special and rare birds. Thanks, Ian, for showing us yet another interesting member of the Anatidae – Ducks, Geese & Swans Family. I am so thankful that Ian is letting me share his newsletters here on this blog. We have been introduced to numerous birds we have never have heard of, let along seen.

Check out all of Ian’s Anatidae Family photos.

Here are a few more facts about this duck from Wikipedia. The Freckled Duck (Stictonetta naevosa) is a moderately large, broad-bodied duck native to southern Australia. The duck is protected by law. Dark in colour with fine off-white speckles all over, it is most easily identified by its large head with a peaked (as opposed to rounded) crown.

The Freckled Duck feeds by dabbling in shallow water, often by wading near the edge. It prefers large, well-vegetated swamps, but moves to open water after breeding or in dry periods.

In flight, it has a distinctive rapid wing beat and holds its head low, making it appear hunchbacked. It does not turn rapidly and lands clumsily.

In dry years, the ephemeral wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin and Lake Eyre disappear and Freckled Ducks migrate to permanent water in coastal regions. This concentration in populated areas, coupled with their habit of circling repeatedly at low altitude when disturbed (even when being shot at) makes them particularly vulnerable to hunting.

See:

Freckled Duck – Wikipedia

Ian’s Anatidae Family photos

Anatidae – Ducks, Geese & Swans Family

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Sarus Crane

September 19, 2013 by Ian

Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) by Ian Montgomery

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Sarus Crane ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter – 9/19/13

I went up to the Atherton Tableland at the weekend to photograph Freckled Ducks at Hasties Swamp where these rare birds had recently been reported. The ducks were still there perching on a log at an inconvenient distance from the hide and, although I spent several hours on three occasions in the hide, they never came any closer and I gave them a wooden spoon award for being undynamic and uncooperative. However, Sarus Cranes, which winter in fields on the Tableland were more cooperative.

Before I tell you the odd story of their history in Australia, here is a spot-the-difference exercise comparing the Sarus Crane, first photo, with the much commoner and more widespread Brolga, second photo.

Brolga Crane (Grus rubicunda) by Ian Montgomery

You have to spot only two differences: the red on the neck of the Sarus Crane extends much farther down than on the Brolga, and the Brolga has a dewlap, the flap of tissue hanging down from the chin. There is another difference: Sarus Cranes have pink legs, and Brolgas have grey ones, though this is often difficult to spot as the legs can be pinkish-grey in the Sarus Crane. Anyway, more about distinguish them later.

Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) by Ian Montgomery

We first discovered a small party of Sarus Cranes feeding near the Malanda-Atherton Highway (opposite the upmarket Gallo chocolate and cheese place). While I was taking photos of them, a flock of about 60 joined them in the field except for 5 which obligingly flew over us, photos 3 and 4. In flight they look positively Jurassic Park-ish and make wonderful, insistent, gurgling, trumpeting noises.

Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) by Ian Montgomery

The next day, when I got bored waiting for the ducks to do something I went to Gallo for cheese and lunch and found a family, I presume, of Sarus Cranes – 2 adults and a juvenile – close to the road that goes from the Malanda-Atherton road to Yungaburra via the Curtain Fig National Park, photos 5 and 6 (the other adult is in the first photo).

Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) by Ian Montgomery

In juvenile Sarus Cranes the red colour is replaced by buffish-cinnamon, usually darker than the one these photos.

Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) Juvenile by Ian Montgomery

The reason for the spot-the-difference exercise was to show that the two species are not hard to separate in the field. So, why were Sarus Cranes not positively identified in Australia until 1966 (in Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria)? The fashionable explanation at the time – which got unobservant birders off the hook – was they had recently colonised Australia from, presumably, Indochina, the nearest other place that they occur naturally. The Australian birds were conveniently similar to the Eastern Sarus Crane (race sharpii) that occurs there, even though it doesn’t migrate. Maybe they couldn’t cope with the sounds of war in Vietnam. It is now though that the Australian Sarus Cranes form another smaller race, gilliae, and have been here all along nesting in remote swamps on the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York Peninsula with at least some moving to the Atherton Tableland in winter.

Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) by Ian Montgomery

The last photo shows the nominate race, antigone, in India. It has white tertiary feathers (the bustle) and with a length of 176cm/70in (weight to 12kg/26lbs) is the world’s tallest flying bird. The population in India is perhaps 10,000, Indochina 1,000 and Australia 5,000. It is extinct in various countries including the Philippines (probably yet another race) and Pakistan and is under threat in Indochina. The Australia population is thought to be stable and may have benefitted from clearing of land for agriculture on the Atherton Tableland.

Best wishes
Ian

Lee’s Addition:

Thanks again, Ian, for sharing another great bird. I encountered my first Sarus Cranes at the Zoo Miami’s Wings of Asia Aviary. They were walking along the sidewalk, and like Ian said, they are tall. I am only 4’10” and they are over 5 feet. Needless to say, I gave them room when they walked by and also had to look up to them.

Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) by Lee at Wings of Asia

Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me. (Isaiah 38:14 KJV)

Sarus and Brolga Cranes belong to the in the Gruidae – Crane Family and are also Birds of the Bible.

Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) by Lee at Wings of Asia

Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD. (Jeremiah 8:7 KJV)

See:

Ian’s Bird of the Week

Ian’s Crane Photos

Sarus Crane – Wikipedia

Gruidae – Crane Family

Birds of the Bible – Cranes

Birds of the Bible

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Swamp Harrier

September 2, 2013 by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Swamp Harrier ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter – 9-2-13

Recently I was having trouble finding a reasonable photo of a Swamp Harrier for Where to Find Birds in Northeastern Queensland, when I remembered an encounter that I had with this one on a beach on Bruny Island in Southeastern Tasmania in late 2011. At the time, I was on the return leg of the trip to the Sub-Antarctic Islands via New Zealand and the Harrier photos got neglected in the excitement of posting penguin, petrel, prion and parakeet photos (not to mention albatrosses but they spoil the alliteration).

The encounter was the enactment of a minor natural tragedy that was sad to observe, and that may be a subconscious reason for the neglect. I’d actually photographed the bird first photo two minutes earlier struggling to fly into the teeth of a southerly gale and carrying an item of prey, that I couldn’t identify. The Harrier dropped it, back off to leeward and made another unsuccessful attempt to fly up-wind by flying low over the sea on the other side of me.

This attempt failed too, and the bird came back for another try flying more or less overhead. At that point, it was attacked by a very distraught-looking Pied Oystercatcher looking for all the world as if it was on a retaliatory bombing raid. The Oystercatcher made a couple of passes at the Harrier, which eventually gave up the struggle and flew inland across the prevailing wind. I could only assume that the item of prey was the Oystercatcher’s chick and the field guide confirmed that these look like plover chicks, camouflaged speckled brown with white bellies. Predation is a natural part of life, but it was sad that the chick died for no purpose.

I’ve found Harriers difficult to photograph as they’re shy and normally keep their distance in flight. They are also terrestrial in their lifestyle, inhabiting tree-less plains and wetlands, hunting close to the ground and nesting and perching on the ground, usually invisible or nearly so in grass or reeds. They hunt by flying low over the land or water – quartering – and dropping suddenly to seize surprised prey (sorry, I’ve done it again) such as birds, small mammals and frogs in their long-legged talons. When quartering, they alternate between flapping their wings and gliding with the wings held in a characteristic V, like the bird in the fourth photo in an otherwise tranquil pastoral scene in New Zealand.

Adult Swamp Harriers are brownish and streaked, with white rumps. Older males have greyish wings and grey tails, unmarked except for a sub-terminal band. Females are more rufous and have barred tails and both the Bruny Island and New Zealand birds are, I think, males. Juvenile Swamp Harriers look quite different and are rufous brown overall with pale rufous rather than white rumps, like the one in the fifth photo.

In Australia, Swamp Harriers nest mainly in the south, including Tasmania and migrate north in winter – in North Queensland, we see them only in the winter months. In New Zealand they make local movements across Cook Strait and they turn up on various islands including Lord Howe and Norfolk. Raptors are poorly represented in New Zealand and the Swamp Harrier is the large bird of the prey, being the only breeding member of the Accipiter family (hawks, eagles, etc.), with the rarer New Zealand Falcon being the only breeding falcon. Swamp Harriers also breed in Melanesia and Polynesia as far east as Tonga. It has close relatives in Eurasia comprising the Eastern, Western, African and Madagascar Marsh Harriers.

Best wishes
Ian

Lee’s Addition:

And when the birds of prey swooped down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. (Genesis 15:11 AMP)

In this case, the Oystercatcher “drove them away.” You have to admit, that Oystercatcher looks right angry.

The Swamp Harrier is a member of the Accipitridae – Kites, Hawks & Eagles Family. There are 256 species, of which, 17 are Harriers or Harrier-hawks.

Ian already gave quite a bit of information about this beautiful bird. The diet of the Swamp Harrier is mainly ground birds and waterbirds, rabbits and other small mammals, reptiles, frogs and fish. During the Winter months harriers feed to a large extent on carrion, including roadkill.

This species nests on the ground, often in swamps, on a mound in reeds or other dense vegetation. The clutch size may range from 2 to 7, but is usually 3 or 4. The incubation period is about 33 days, with chicks fledging about 45 days after hatching. (Wikipedia)

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater

August 20, 2013 by Lee

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis) by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater ~ Ian Montgomery

Newsletter – 8/20/13

I’m currently preparing photos for a digital version of the book Where to Find Birds in North-East Queensland by Jo Wieneke (http://www.nqbirds.com). I’m finding that many of these have not yet featured as bird of the week, so here’s one that I came across a photo this morning that appealed to me, one of an unusual-looking honeyeater, the Spiny-cheeked, taken not long after sunrise at Gluepot, the BirdLife Australia mallee reserve in South Australia. At the time, I was spending some time each morning at a hide overlooking a drinking trough waiting for Scarlet-chested Parrots http://www.birdway.com.au/psittacidae/scarlet_chested_parrot/index.htm.

The Spiny-cheeked is a bird of dry country, so the easiest way to photograph it is as watering places, and the second photo was taken in Central Queensland south of Torrens Creek near a dam, this time close to sunset. It is a widespread and common in the more arid parts of mainland Australia except tropical Australia north of about 19ºS and Tasmania. It also occurs in scrubby coastal areas, such as southern Victoria. Like many dry-country birds it is nomadic and appears only rarely in Northeastern Queensland, though I did see one in the garden in the first house I lived in Townsville in 2002.

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis) by Ian

With a length of 23-26cm/9-10in, it’s quite large by honeyeater standards and the bare pink area on the face gives it some similarity to the Wattlebirds, also honeyeaters. Although it is the only member of the genus Acanthagenys, DNA studies have shown that it is related to both the Wattlebirds (Acanthocaera) and the Regent Honeyeater, another one with bare red skin, in this case around the eye. The Spiny-cheeked is quite vocal with a creaky, piping, rather Wattlebird-like song, often the first sign of its presence.

Feedback on the change in font was rather muted, with one in favour of the new one, one against it and one not liking the underlining of the scientific name. I can agree with all points of view and am undecided, though I’m using the new font for photos in the digital version of Jo Wieneke’s book. I’ve rather got used to it, though I’ve started putting the scientific name in grey to make the underlining less obvious as I’m constrained both by the convention of using either italics or underlining for scientific name and the lack of an italic option in an already italic-looking font. My thanks to those who took the trouble to respond.

Jo’s book has been out of print for a little while now, so the digital version is to fill the gap left by its disappearance from book shops. I’ll let you know when it is available: the aim is to publish it for Apple iBooks, Google PlayBooks and Amazon Kindle.

Best wishes
Ian

Lee’s Addition:

My son, eat honey because it is good, And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste; (Pro 24:13 NKJV)

This Honeyeater belong to the Meliphagidae – Honeyeaters Family, which has 184 species. Check out Ian’s photos of this Family.

In addition to what Ian mentioned about the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Wikipedia had this to say:

The honeyeater is mainly frugivorous, but will also eat nectar, blossoms, insects, reptiles, and young birds. Its habitat includes deserts, coastal scrubland, and dry woodlands. It is also found in mangroves and orchards. Its range includes most of Australia except for Tasmania, tropical Northern areas, the Southeastern coast.

The Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater is a grey-brown bird with a burnt orange throat and chest. It has grey wings edged with white, and a long tail with white tips. It has a pink, black-tipped bill.

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis) ©WikiC

Here is the song of a Spiny-cheeked from xeno-canto.

See:

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Southern Giant-Petrel

August 7, 2013 by Ian