Hello Birding Ausers
I would be interested in your opinions of the description below. I spoke to Coral this afternoon to go through details of her sighting. She is catagoric that the birds she saw were not Dollarbirds which was my guess, especially given the call description. With the exception of a thin black border around the wings the colour on the top of the wings was a uniform iridescent green colour similar to the speculum of the black duck in certain lights. She did not observe anything that resembled a ‘dollar’ in the wings of the birds in flight. The bill was approximately an inch long (she was unable to determine the shape as she did not have her binoculars with her) and yellow or light orange. She observed them on Wednesday 23 January, high up in the mangroves/she-oaks at Twin Waters on the north shore of the Maroochy River, near the spit.
The description has me stumped! Any suggestions???
Kind regards
Judith
From: cseaborn@flexinet.com.au To: puffin_54@hotmail.com Subject: Re: Unidentified bird. Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:22:11 +1100
Hello Judith.
Thank you for your reply. Yes I do have a field guide but I couldn’t identify these birds.
Briefly, they were mainly a teal colour with a black boarder around the wings when in flight, making it look like they had a teal window in each wing. The front of the throat (small bib) was a dark grey. Size was a bit bigger than a drongo and they had a shortish tail when sitting. In flight the wings were sharp and pointed with an almost out of proportion wide span. They had a raspy call. The beak was yellow or light orange. They were in an area of thick large mangroves and she oaks.
I had a friend with me and she keeps asking me if I have found out about those beautiful teal birds. It was the bright colour of the birds that I first noticed and I knew of nothing in our Slater that would match it.
That is about as much as I can remember. Is it of any help?
My phone numbers are 07 54453894 and 0458 57 4917 and I am happy for you to call any time.
Many thanks for your help.
Regards, Coral Seaborn.
From: Judith Hoyle Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 9:19 PM To: cseaborn@flexinet.com.au Cc: gwrogers@bigpond.com Subject: RE: Unidentified bird.
Hi Coral,
If you could provide a brief description and a phone number I can give you a ring to discuss. Do you have a field guide??
Kind regards
Judith
Judith Hoyle
Convenor, BirdLife Southern Queensland
From: cseaborn@flexinet.com.au To: southernqld@birdlife.org.au Subject: Unidentified bird. Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:20:26 +1100
Dear Sir / Madam,
I am a member of Birdlife Aust. but with only amateurish fascination with birds. Last Wednesday I saw 3 birds, all the same as each other, at the beach on the Sunshine Coast. The next day as I was ready to set off and hopefully find them again, armed with camera and binoculars, it started to rain. As you know, the rain and wind were furious and have only just stopped today.
Is there someone who I can talk to over the phone who might be able to identify them for me. I’m desperate to know what they are!
Kind regards,
Coral Seaborn. ===============================
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Hi Judith,
I think that Carol has seen some Dollarbirds, no doubt in my mind…
The flight feathers are much darker than the rest of wing in most lights & can appear at times as a darker trailing edge. The dollar marks can be hard to see with the naked eye, but even these could be described as teal (but very pale!!!) coloured – although I think that the palest of sky blues would be a better description, or even better a bluish-white – they don’t always appear silver, esp with the naked eye…
My bet is that Coral didn’t pick the small pale windows with her naked eyes in any case, which is not unexpected without bins.
The shape & length of tail, overall size & colour of bird, bill colour (yes, red can appear yellow/orange without bins) & bill legth, calls, description of flight, & habit of being high in she-oaks at an ecotione with mangroves, all point without any doubt in my mind to be definite Dollarbirds (& maybe juvenile birds with yellowish bills).
I think maybe the dollar wing markings have gone unoticed by Coral without bins & were therefore not a “diagnostic” feature that she recalls – these marks are not always easy to see without bins…
Cheers,
Martin Cachard Cairns
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Does she know the Australasian Figbird and Olive-backed Oriole? They are the only species that come to mind at present.
Regards
Greg Dr Greg. P. Clancy Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460 0266493153 0429601960