Tag Archives: Friarbird

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Silver-crowned Friarbird

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Silver-crowned Friarbird (Philemon argenticeps) by Ian

Silver-crowned Friarbird (Philemon argenticeps) by Ian

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Silver-crowned Friarbird ~ by Ian Montgomery

Last week, we had the splendid Palm Cockatoo at Mungkan Kandju National Park. On the way home, I spent the night at Musgrave, Cape York Peninsula, so that I could look for Golden-shouldered Parrots at Artemis Station where the owners, the Shephards, have worked tirelessly to save this utterly beautiful but endangered parrot. This featured as Bird of the Week last December, so I’ve chosen the Silver-crowned Friarbird as the main species this week.

Silver-crowned Friarbird (Philemon argenticeps) by Ian

Silver-crowned Friarbird (Philemon argenticeps) by Ian

At Musgrave, I camped under an African tulip tree, a popular ornamental introduction in northern Australia but now branded as a Class 3 weed in Queensland (may not be supplied or sold and removal may be required from environmentally sensitive areas). It is, however, very popular with the larger honeyeaters and after returning from Artemis, I noticed a smallish Friarbird feeding in the tree and making unfamiliar sounds, this Silver-crowned Friarbird, a species I’ve seen in the Northern Territory but not previously in northern Queensland, where the similar Helmeted Friarbird is much commoner.

The north Queensland race of the Helmeted Friarbird (yorki) also has a silver crown and frequently mid-identified. The Silver-crowned is better identified by its smaller size (27-32cm/11-12.6in compared with 32.5-37cm/12.8-14.6in), the shape of the bare patch on the cheek and the shape of the bill-knob. In the Silver-crowned Friarbird the black facial skin forms an angular point behind the eye but is rounded in the Helmeted. This isn’t always easy to see, so I have included the second photo which shows it better. The Silver-crowned has a more prominent bill-knob, but the knob is less obvious in juvenile birds of both species and variable in shape in the races of the Helmeted. The call is perhaps more reliable as the tone of the Silver-crowned is noticeably more nasal, sometimes described as ‘cat-like’ and also likened to the calls of the Koel. I’m rather deaf, but even I noticed the difference.

Golden-shouldered Parrot (Psephotus chrysopterygius) by Ian

Golden-shouldered Parrot (Psephotus chrysopterygius) by Ian

Sue Shephard found me a pair of Golden-shouldered Parrots feeding on the roadside and the male was quite approachable, so I’ve included a photo of this amazing parrot.

Back at the website, I’ve been labouring to fix the formatting problems discovered with old versions of Internet Explorer. I’ve fixed the home page and all the new format family index pages and am now updating the actual photo galleries. I’ve started with the galleries birds that appear at the top of the home page as ‘Ian’s Picks’, normally updated weekly, though I’ll leave the current crop for a few days longer.

As part of the reformatting, I’m adding a few refinements. In the family index pages, I’ve included ‘place-holders’ for regional thumbnail links that don’t apply (eg Australian Thumbnails for Woodpeckers) so that the regional thumbnail links always appear in the same location in both the family index pages and the species galleries and I’m including the other applicable regional thumbnail links in the regional index pages so that, for example, you can go straight from the Old World Woodpecker thumbnails to the New World Woodpecker thumbnails without having to go through the Global thumbnails.

I’ve also including the previous and next family pointers (and the names of the families) in the regional index pages so that, again, you don’t have to go to the Global level of thumbnails to get to the next or previous family. This all sounds more complicated that it actually is, so, if you are interested, have a look at the Woodpeckers: http://www.birdway.com.au/picidae/index.htm .

Best wishes,
Ian

—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: +61-7 4751 3115

Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

Again, Ian has captured some fantastic photos of the birds. He has such a talent for his photography. Thanks again, Ian.

The Friarbirds are in the Meliphagidae Family of the Passeriformes Order.

The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly. (Proverbs 14:24 KJV)

See also:
Ian’s Bird of the Week – Helmeted Friarbird

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Ian’s Bird of the Week – Helmeted Friarbird

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Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides) by Ian

Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides) by Ian

Newsletter 03-10-2010

As with the Pheasant Coucal last week, I didn’t have to leave the house to photograph the Helmeted Friarbird in the first photo on the red flowers of a nearby Umbrella Tree. This tree has been flowering profusely for weeks and attracting a noisy variety of Honeyeaters and Lorikeets. The Helmeted Friarbird – length to 37cm/15in is the largest of the 4 species of Friarbirds found in Australia. Friarbirds get their name from the colour of the plumage, like the brown habits worn by friars and Helmeted refers to the feathered crown, in contrast to the naked crown of the more widespread Noisy Friarbird.

Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides) by Ian

Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides) by Ian

This particular individual is sub-adult; it has pale fringes to the feathers of the back and neck which marks it as an immature bird, but it has the red eye and knobbed bill of the adult – very young birds have brown eyes and lack the knob. The second photo shows an adult bird feeding on an orange Grevillea and you can see that the plumage is more evenly coloured.

The Helmeted Friarbird is a northern species and, in Australia, it occurs only in Queensland and the Northern Territory. The Queensland race of the Helmeted Friarbird (yorki) has a silvery crown and is best distinguished from the rather similar Silver-crowned Friarbird by the shape of the rear edge of the facial skin – curved in the Helmeted, but with a backward-pointing spur in the Silver-crowned – and by its calls. In the Top End of the Northern Territory, another race of the Helmeted Friarbird (ammitophila) lacks the knob on the bill – see the third photo – and has different calls. This race is often called the Sandstone Friarbird and is a characteristic bird of the escarpments of Kakadu and Arnhem Land.

Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides) by Ian

Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides) by Ian

Friarbirds are large Honeyeaters and the Helmeted Friarbird is only in exceeded in size among Australian Honeyeaters by the Yellow Wattlebird, a Tasmanian endemic. Only the Silver-crowned is an Australian endemic, the other 3 species also occur in New Guinea, where another 12 species of Friarbird occur.
Noisy Friarbird
Little Friarbird

On the subject of Honeyeaters, I’ve added new photos of Banded Honeyeaters and Yellow-tinted Honeyeaters to the website:

Best wishes,
Ian
—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: +61-7 4751 3115
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:

Friarbirds and Honeyeaters are both in the Meliphagidae Family of the Passeriformes Order.

http://www.birdway.com.au/meliphagidae/banded_honeyeater/index.htm

“The friarbirds (also called leatherheads) are about 15 species of relatively large honeyeaters in the genus Philemon. Additionally, the single member of the genus Melitograis is called the White-streaked Friarbird. Friarbirds are found in Australia, Papua New Guinea, eastern Indonesia and New Caledonia. They eat nectar, insects and other invertebrates, flowers, fruit and seeds.

The friarbirds generally have drab plumage. In many instances their plumage is mimicked by smaller orioles, which use the aggressive nature of the friarbirds to avoid aggression themselves.

And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:30 ESV)