Can anyone advise what we should call the birds of this group in the immediate vicinity of Townsville? Just south of the Ross River, the birds look like yellow washed Mangrove H. Whereas the birds in a population within 5km north of Ross River appear to be very lightly washed with a Yellow tint. The only useful reference in a Google search was a 1978 article in EMU by J Ford as follows:- *Intergradation between the Varied and Mangrove Honeyeaters J Ford Emu 78(2) 71 – 74* *Abstract* *Honeyeaters from mangroves near Townsville, central coastal Queensland, are intermediate in coloration between the Varied Honeyeater Lichenostomus (= Meliphaga) versicolor and the Mangrove Honeyeater L. fasciogularis. This information taken in conjunction with the similarity of their calls and ecology suggests that these taxa may be conspecific.* Has there been any further work on this subject? In the mean time, perhaps we can call them Maried Honeyeaters!
Ivor ===============================
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Hi David & Ivor,
This is a very interesting analysis David that makes plenty of good sense to me – thanks for sharing this with us up here in the Wet Tropics & southwards…
All I wanted to add here is that I can confiirm the “hybrid” birds in the Halifax-Lucinda area that Kath had reported… In the very late 90’s the birds I always saw at Dungeness looked like apparent hybrids to me – this locality is at the mouth of the Herbert River at the very southern end of Hinchinbrook Channel, just to the west of Lucinda. I never saw any birds there that appeared either pure Varied or Mangrove… However, I didn’t check the birds either side of the Dungeness locality, so I therefore have no idea from personal observations of what occurs outside the immediate area of Dungeness.
Sorry but that’s about all I can add.
Cheers,
Martin Cachard Cairns
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Hi Ivor, I looked into Mangrove and Varied Honeyeaters a bit during the 90s and early 00s when I was living in Townsville. To answer your question is more complicated than you might think. My methods were very simple; I looked at them at as many locations as I could in NQ, and recorded some plumage details particularly on the underparts, throat and head. NO captures, no DNA, not even any photos, just plumage notes. In summary, I found almost exclusively pure Mangrove Honeyeaters from the mouth of the Ross River (south side of Townsville) southwards to Gladstone at many locations. I found almost exclusively pure Varied Honeyeaters from Rowes Bay (north side of Townsville) north to Cape York and PNG. The furthest north I ever found a Mangrove Honeyeater was in the small recolonising areas of mangroves at South Townsville, near the port. This is about 5 km in a straight line from Rowes Bay where Varied were resident, and there is no suitable habitat in between, so they effectively abutted at Townsville. The exceptions were interesting: 1). Julian Ford collected 2 hybrids at “Cleveland Bay” in the 1980s. Both Ross River and Rowes Bay are in the huge Cleveland Bay but Andrea Griffin was with Julian and she told me they were at the mouth of the Ross River. I never saw a single hybrid or anything that made me suspicious, anywhere in Cleveland Bay, though of course I might have just missed them. 2). 40 km or so South of Townsville at Cape Cleveland and Cungulla, there were only Mangrove Honeyeaters, except on a couple of occasions I saw a single Varied with the Mangroves somewhere in the township of Cungulla. I suspect it was just the one bird that I saw repeatedly. This was the only location where I ever saw the 2 species together. 3). In 1989 or 1990 at either Lucinda or Halifax (about 100 km n of Ross River) Kath Shurcliffe showed me a population of hybrids. Later when I was looking into it I couldn’t find this locality again, and only got insufficient views of honeyeaters in this area, so I was never able to verify the earlier sighting for myself. My data set doesn’t prove anything, but here is my wild and reckless hypothesised explanation: Mangrove and Varied Honeyeaters are closely related (sister taxa). They evolved from a common answer relatively recently when some historical barrier split the ancestor’s range into 2. They are now in ‘secondary contact’ after the barrier broke down. Since they both have linear distributions tied to coastal mangroves this is a rare example where the secondary contact effectively occurs at a single location, rather than across a broad front. They can and do hybridise, but mostly they do not. Varied Honeyeater is expanding southwards and displacing Mangrove as it goes. The individual Varied I saw at Cungulla living with Mangroves was, at that time, leading the charge, an unwitting scout. The 2 hybrids collected at Ross River were love children of the battle front at that time. Varied had not one that battle and had retreated slightly, at least temporarily. The hybrid swarms at Lucinda or Hallifax (if they exist) are isolated historical remnants from a time when Varied swept southwards through there displacing Mangrove as it went. That speculation aside, if someone looked at the genetics I wouldn’t be surprised to find either: a) a complex mix of secret hybrids throughout, even though they look like one species or the other; or b) there is no difference between them genetically. My ‘explanation’ would likely prove too simple. So I would expect that birds north of Townsville are still Varied. Your yellow washed birds at Ross River might also be Varied, advancing south once more, or they might be hybrids or they might even be juvenile Mangroves. Get some photos if you can. Thanks Mike Carter for bringing this to my attention. Cheers, David James Sydney
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