Thanks Mike and others who replied. I’ve just written a short article on this Hoopoe, so I was curious that the new photo showed a bird that lacked white in the crest. The more I look it seems obvious that there’s a broad pale subterminal crest band – as you’ve just indicated. I was simply noticing the lack of pure white, rather than the lack of band at all. This bird also now seems rather dull (in terms of colour!) compared to my first views, lacking the vibrancy and darker colours reported in U. e. africana. Perhaps a saturation issue between different computers, saturating saturata, so to speak, but far more likely just my mind playing tricks. There was a suggestion that it might be either U.e.epops or U.e.saturata, so interested to know what BARC comes up with. Cheers, Tim ________________________________________ From: Mike Carter [pterodroma@bigpond.com] Sent: Monday, March 03, 2014 12:29 PM To: Tim Dolby; birding-aus Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] NT Hoopoe – U. e. Africana? I see no reason to consider that it’s other than the far eastern race of Eurasian Hoopoe U. e. saturata. The African bird has no subterminal crest band at all or one that is much reduced in its extent, whereas the NT bird possesses a broad and obvious pale subterminal crest band albeit not pure white. But then the white transverse bands across the back and wings are not as they should be, pure white either, also being tainted with a paler version of the pinkish-buff that dominates the rest of the plumage. Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136 —– Original Message —– From: “Tim Dolby” <Tim.Dolby@vu.edu.au> To: “birding-aus” <birding-aus@birding-aus.org> Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2014 5:38 PM Subject: [Birding-Aus] NT Hoopoe – U. e. Africana? Hi all, I’ve just published on Birdline Australia a follow-up photograph of the NT Eurasian Hoopoe – a bird seen recently by Tim Wethers (Feb 8, 2014) in Galiwin’ku, Elcho Is – see http://www.eremaea.com/BirdlineRecentSightings.aspx?Birdline=6. Although I know that the separation of Hoopoe ssp can be awkward (being based mostly on the depth of the orange, pink and cinnamon colour tones in the plumage), this bird seems to have a richer orange cinnamon colour above and lacks the subterminal white band in the crest. This may make it the resident African form Upupa epops Africana, a bird treated by some authorities as a separate sp. By contrast, the bird seen at the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse in 2011 was thought to be a juv. northern ssp U. e. saturata. Interested to hear any thoughts? Just a U. e. saturata variant? Another Hoopoe ssp? Cheers, Tim Dolby This email, including any attachment, is intended solely for the use of the intended recipient. It is confidential and may contain personal information or be subject to legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use, disclosure, reproduction or storage of it is unauthorised. If you have received this email in error, please advise the sender via return email and delete it from your system immediately. Victoria University does not warrant that this email is free from viruses or defects and accepts no liability for any damage caused by such viruses or defects. _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
Unfortunately Tim Wethers didn’t get any images of an open wings. As a aside, Tim has made one other significant sighting at Elcho Island in the NT, see: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-18/viking-ship-spotted-off-nt/4266796 Cheers, Tim ________________________________________ Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2014 9:26 AM Hi all, having just ticked off African Hoopoe (in Africa – where else!), a couple of comments on the NT bird (postings dated 3rd March 2014), if I may. Firstly, the IOC checklist version 4.1 (2014), and earlier versions split African and Eurasian Hoopoes. Thus we have Upupa epops and U. africana. (And a third species Madagascar Hoopoe U. marginata.) Secondly, the far eastern subspecies is no longer considered to be saturata, it is longirostris ranging from ne. India through to s. China, Indochina and n. Malay Peninsula (IOC 4.1). So could be difficult to pin down the subspecies – the NT bird could be nominate epops which breeds from Europe and nw. Africa to nw. India, south central Russia and nw. China. Thirdly, as alluded to, it is very useful to see the open wing, since africana has a large white patch in the secondaries which is lacking in all subspecies of epops (these have black and white barring). U. epops has a white bar in the outer primaries that is lacking in africana. Africana is also appreciably darker overall. Cheers Peter _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org This email, including any attachment, is intended solely for the use of the intended recipient. It is confidential and may contain personal information or be subject to legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use, disclosure, reproduction or storage of it is unauthorised. If you have received this email in error, please advise the sender via return email and delete it from your system immediately. Victoria University does not warrant that this email is free from viruses or defects and accepts no liability for any damage caused by such viruses or defects. _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
Hi all, having just ticked off African Hoopoe (in Africa – where else!), a couple of comments on the NT bird (postings dated 3rd March 2014), if I may. Firstly, the IOC checklist version 4.1 (2014), and earlier versions split African and Eurasian Hoopoes. Thus we have Upupa epops and U. africana. (And a third species Madagascar Hoopoe U. marginata.) Secondly, the far eastern subspecies is no longer considered to be saturata, it is longirostris ranging from ne. India through to s. China, Indochina and n. Malay Peninsula (IOC 4.1). So could be difficult to pin down the subspecies – the NT bird could be nominate epops which breeds from Europe and nw. Africa to nw. India, south central Russia and nw. China. Thirdly, as alluded to, it is very useful to see the open wing, since africana has a large white patch in the secondaries which is lacking in all subspecies of epops (these have black and white barring). U. epops has a white bar in the outer primaries that is lacking in africana. Africana is also appreciably darker overall. Cheers Peter _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org