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Shades of that old cold war question: ‘Who has the best Germans?’  Who has the most creative taxonomists?

Hmm, I don’t agree with those endemic totals no matter which checklist you follow, Papua New Guinea actually has something like 415 and the whole New Guinea region 481, and that’s not with the BirdLife taxonomy which would be higher, I’d place Australia third after Indonesia then PNG.

Hi all,

The Noisy Miners at my place (Como, on the Woronora River, South of Sydney) just drew my attention to  a Brown Goshawk, probably female based on size, circling above.

I realised it was carrying what I assume to be prey: looked like a small bird, but hard to get a good view.

I was surprised to see the Goshawk then proceed to spiral upwards, soaring to a great height, still with the prey, before eventually disappearing from view over the trees.

I would have assumed that once a prey item was secured they would retreat somewhere to eat or feed chicks.

Any ideas what it may have been dooring, or for what purpose?

Paul.

I am engaged in a little project for which I am seeking information about the taxonomic treatment of Australian birds for everyday purposes, that is in field guides and regional lists and personal recording.  The eBird recording system is one example, but I know about the basis for that.  There has been a trend towards the use of the IOC/WorldBirdNames taxonomy, for example in –

The Australian Bird Guide, Menkhorst, P. et al ( rev. ed. 2019)

Australian Bird Names: Origins and Meanings, Fraser, I. & Gray, J. (2^nd ed. 2019)

Birds of the Australian High Country, Hermes, N. (2017)   

The taxonomy is generally indicated by a declared choice of the ‘list’ that is being followed, sometimes a global list.  There is not a great deal of difference between them, although the sequence of families can vary. So far as species are concerned, the choice of list can affect, for example,   whether a separate species of ‘Morepork’ is recognised (N. leucopsis) or whether the Crested Shrike-tit is split into three different species.

I do not have copies of all the most recent field guides or apps or ready access to recent regional lists.   I would be grateful for any information about recent developments and any comments about trends in this area.  Apart from my own little project, I thought this subject might be of some interest to this chatline.

Geoffrey Dabb  

Dear Birding-aussers,

About one hour ago I was informed by Stephen Davies’ daughter, Fran, that Stephen died peacefully in Perth around 10 am yesterday. Stephen would be well-known to many as a former President of the RAOU, its first Director, an RAOU Fellow, and a former Chair of the WA Group of the RAOU.

I also remember him as a friend, mentor, co-supervisor of my Honours and PhD projects at the University of WA and as someone who guided my early career. I first met Stephen when I was 11 years old (in 1970) and he encouraged me to maintain my interest in birds and to chase my dream of becoming an ornithologist, a dream that was realised many years later. I know many who have a similar story.

RIP Stephen Davies. My sincerest condolences to all the Davies Family.

Stephen Ambrose

Ryde NSW

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NEW BIRDS IN TROMSØ, NORTHERN NORWAY

Two weeks ago I sent out a mail telling about the new birds I encountered in the Netherlands, a country I left  55 years ago. Since 1973 I have lived in Tromsø, at almost 70*N in northern Norway, and also during these years I have experienced clear changes in the local avifauna. But in contradistinction to the Netherlands, very little of these changes are due to bird species introduced to the area by human agency.

There are nowadays Canada Geese in Norway too, but none as yet as far north as Tromsø. And we have had a few records of two other allochthonous bird species, i.e. Bar-headed Goose and Mandarin Duck. The latter, curiously enough twice found after having fallen down a chimney, probably derive from the British feral populations, while  ringed birds showed that  at least the majority of the  several Bar-headed Geese found in N. Norway stemmed from the famous goose population of Dr Konrad Lorenz in Seewiesen, clearly no longer cared for as well after his death and resuming their ancestral migrating habits.

Tromsø today is twice as big as when I first arrived here (76000 now) and this of course has caused changes, mostly losses, in the local avifauna. But today I will rather write about the gains, all of indigenous songbirds, and probably all caused by the changing climate and the generally warmer weather. When I first came to Tromsø in 1973, there were no Greenfinches here and the northernmost populations occurred on the Southern part of the island of Senja, maybe 200 km south of here. Now these hardy finches are maybe the most common small birds in winter, not only here in Tromsø, but all the way to the Russian border, some 1000 km further NE. Increased winter feeding by the local people, and the planting of conifers in the gardens may have helped the Greenfinches too.

Some birds that already occurred in the inland of Troms province, are now more often also found here near the coast. Good examples are the European Robin and the Woodpigeon. And to my great surprise I watched a Eurasian Wren in my garden last year; that is a bird that up here traditionally only occurs on the outermost coast, often in the seabird colonies.

But there are also a few common European birds that slowly expand their area to the North. A good example is the feisty little Blue Tit that during the last few years has become a regular visitor also in our garden; like the Great Tit that conquered the area 50 years earlier, these tits are almost completely dependent on regular winter feeding by the locals—contrary to the local Willow and Siberian Tits, these species do not hoard food for winter use.

Another newcomer is the European Jay, although I have not as yet seen them here on the island of Tromsøya. But it is regularly reported from feeding stations in the area, and I have myself seen it a few times not too far from Tromsø. A third, and very welcome, newcomer is the European Blackbird, a very common species in my native Holland, where its wonderful song sounds from nearly every garden and roof. I have now heard the song also here North, but as yet  the ‘svarttrost’ is here still a quite shy inhabitant of woodlands, its original niche, and not the tame lawn bird of most places in W. Europe. However, in winter, in our ‘mørketid’ (the dark period, when we don’t see the sun for 2 months) male blackbirds can now also somewhat regularly be seen in town here, and I have twice had one in my garden. Also male Blackcaps, who often feed on berries in winter, have been reported a few times in that season, but for this species the ‘march north’ seems to be beset with difficulties and  they are still only quite rarely heard here in summer, just as it was 40 years ago.

Further bird species may make it up here, if this trend continues. Candidates are the Common Whitethroat, and maybe even the Icterine Warbler.

Wim Vader, Tromsø, N. Norway