Author: kevin bartram

Interesting splits there, whitei is probably not that surprising, not sure about rowleyi, although it is a bit of an isolate, so again a possibility. The one I question is oweni from central Aust. Schodde & Mason didn’t even consider this one as a subspecies! I had a look at the grasswrens for HANZAB, & certainly the central ones look very distinctive, very rufous & bright compared to mallee striatus. They had the opinion that there was a cline between striatus & oweni, which gradated into something more rufous in central Australia. The main problem here is that most of the habitat between the 2 has been wiped out, as well as the possible clines between the 2. I kind of thought they warranted subspecific status to mark the differences between the 2, especially since the cline is now broken. The other complication is the remark that striatus is found in the south-east Murray-Mallee region. I’ve looked at photos of grasswrens from Gluepot & compared them to the grasswrens at Ha ttah, south of the Murray & the Gluepot birds are a little more rufous than the Hattah birds. This could well be evidence of a cline. I haven’t looked at the paper, but I hope that these problems have been taken into account. Perhaps the birds north of the Murray are actually oweni!?-Kevin Bartram =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================

Hi all Due to a run of bad weather weekends, we’ve had to cancel another pelagic last weekend. We’re not giving up though! We’re having another go this weekend. So if you’d like to get out this weekend on Sunday 4th August & see some excellent seabirds off Port Fairy, could you contact Neil McCumber either by ringing 0413 628 306 or emailing birdswing@bigpond.com him. We are bound to get out sooner or later!-Kevin Bartram =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================

Hi all Had a bunch of punters come on board for this weekend’s pelagic off Port Fairy going out this Sunday 21/7/13, weather permitting. Need letting you know we need just a few more to fill the boat. Give Neil McCumber a call on 0413 628 306 or email him at birdswing@bigpond.com. Will the southerlies bring up a Blue Petrel, a Grey Petrel, Light-mantled Sooty Albatross, Grey-headed Albatross, a Fulmar, or even a Kerguelen Petrel? One way to find out.-Kevin Bartram =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================

Just letting people know there are a few places available for next weeks pelagic off Port Fairy on Sunday 21st June. Recent trips off Port MacDonnell, nearby in SA have produced Grey Petrel, Sooty Albatross & 4 species of prions, so if the weather is good we may have a good chance of seeing something special at Port Fairy next weekend. Please contact Neil McCumber on 0413 628 306 or email him on birdswing@bigpond.com to make a booking. Kevin Bartram =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================

I can off hand think of 2 others that should be looked at. Bearing in mind that I don’t consider myself as any kind of taxonomist, but it’s always good to have things looked at. A lot of what is below is from some notes, memory & also photos.

Firstly the so-called Brown Thornbill Acanthiza pusilla of Tasmania (as opposed to the Tasmanian Thornbill Acanthiza ewingi, which is more obviously a good species), I do believe shows some genetic similarities with the Inland Thornbill, rather than the SE subspecies of Brown Thornbill. I did detect some differences between Tas Brown Thonbills and those of the mainland when I was there last there in 2010. This included: a stouter, larger bill; paler freckling on the forehead with less of a rufous tinge than the mainland ssp; more greyish brown tinge overall on the upperparts, less richly olive-brown upperparts; also perhaps less buffy on the flanks & undertail (not so certain of this one). It would be also useful to investigate things like undertail pattern. Many of these characters sound more on the Inland Thornbill side, rather than Brown. If the Tas A. pusilla is more closely related genetically to Inland Thornbills, then either all 3 should be split into distinct species, or all lumped (since Brown Thornbill & Inland almost certainly interbreed in some areas, for example I’ve seen some possible hybrids in the Kamarooka mallee region of Bendigo & perhaps the Little Desert). I definitely think this one deserves a good look.

The other is the Tas Grey Fantail. Given the great variation within Grey Fantails in Aust., this one is probably a bit more tenuous, but it shares something with the Boobook Owls. The Tas ssp albiscapa (which migrates to the Aust mainland in large numbers in Autumn, Winter & Spring is darker almost sooty grey compared to the mainland birds (subspecies alisteri), which are more medium grey. Sometimes because of wear & age this is difficult to see in the field, but these 2 subspecies can nearly always be separated by their undertail patterns. Tas birds have only the very fringes of the outer tail feather edged white, whereas mainland birds have white extending further into the feather, about a centimetre. The reason this bird has something in common with Boobooks is that in NZ they have a fantail (now regarded as a full species) which is darker, although the very white tail pattern suggests that this bird is probably correctly regarded as a full species now. Also in the mountai ns of NE Qld there is a similar resident subspecies of Grey Fantail, which is dark above (even darker than Tas birds!) & has narrow white fringes to the outer tail feathers. In many ways this bird is similar to Tas albiscapa. Also Boobooks have a small dark representative in NE Qld, which is the Red Boobook. Whether this is all convergence, or relict populations needs to be tested with genetics. But it is interesting from a taxanomic point of view, that there are these similarities between Tas, NZ & SE Qld, in both Grey Fantail & Boobooks & it needs to be ascertained whether they all have a common ancestor, or have become as they are in isolation. Certainly worth questioning.

Look forward to the feedback-Kevin Bartram

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Here’s my take on the subject of Tas Moreporks on the Aust. mainland.

Without going into too much detail & based on my memory of 3 specimens collected I found dead in Victoria (1 beachwashed at Phillip Island; 1 dead on road near Ocean Grove & 1 up in the mountains in Camberville) & now lodged in the Museum of Victoria & then a comparison between these birds, a good collection of Tas skins, Tas-like birds collected in Vic & a large collection of mainland ssp all in the Vic Museum.

Firstly the photograph taken at Hamilton is definitely a Tasmanian Boobook. This is based on bright yellow iris (dull greenish yellow in mainland Boobooks); small white spotting on crown (if there is any blotching on mainland birds it is large & cream or brown, more likely to be streaked in this area; certainly not white & not tiny as in this bird); the patterning below is finely with whitish blotches (in mainland birds this is occasionally blotched, but not white & usually streaked; blotches tend to be larger, or streaked and usually cream-coloured, although sometimes whitish); overall the upperparts seem very dark (this is more mid-brownish, not so dark brown in mainland birds). I have seen a Tas bird in Tas & it was remarkably small-looking & very dark with spotting on crown & blotching as described above.

Within each subspecies (or species?) is a fair bit of variation & there are a few birds that may be difficult to separate in the field, but most of the differences hold true & I cannot find any evidence of a mainland bird which has the Tas Boobook characters that was collected in the summer months of the year. This is opposed to around a dozen birds (at last count) collected in Victoria, all in Autumn, Winter (? Spring). So without any evidence of there being any Summer records of Tas Boobooks, you would have to say they are much more likely to be migrants. They are just overlooked because of their similarity to mainland birds.

As for whether the Tas bird is a full species, to me it’s a matter of degree. I actually thought of this well before it was recently postulated & it is a bit odd that the bird is small compared to mainland birds, with some good plumage differences. I tend to think this bird is part of a relict boobook population, which is also true of NZ birds & perhaps the Red Boobook of NE Qld. Whether they (or the others) are different enough is a matter of conjecture. Be good if we had some Aussie taxonomists to decide these things, instead of people overseas. I think if you split this one, there are a bunch of other candidates waiting to be looked at from Tas, like the small Tas Magpie, the long shrike-like billed Tas Grey Shrike-thrush (bills are supposed to be smaller proportionally in higher latitudes, this has a bill at least 33% larger with no overlap; additionally has a distinct white throat); & wait there are more……

As for the Pink Robin, the Tas bird sounds like a very weak subspecies anyway, so the only way to decide this one is to band some Tas birds & see if they turn up on the mainland.

Kevin Bartram

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