Or, when faced with a choice between bird and book:
Believe the bird.
Cheers ;-)
Alan
On 24/04/2009, at 11:56 AM, Mike Carter wrote:
Margaret Christians book 'Norfolk Island ... The Birds', gives the
status of both Masked and White-browed Woodswallow as 'native'. That
may be true now for Masked Woodswallow but my understanding is that
wasn't always the case and I'd doubt that status for White-browed. In
my first visit in 1992 I didn't see either species but in 1998 I saw
several Masked Woodswallows. As I recall, they had arrived fairly
recently. Masked have been present ever since but I suspected that
White-browed had died out. 'Notornis' publishes updates on Norfolk Is
birds about every ten years so you could trace the status there.
HANZAB says Masked regular but 'not recorded before 1996' and lists
White-browed as a vagrant there so the Atlas is right in querying your
claim and you should provide justification.
Latham's Snipe is a vagrant with several records. I have also seen it
there, e.g. 1 at Headstone on 2 March 1998.
Because so few of us send our records to the Atlas when holidaying on
these offshore islands there are few Atlas entries. An example of this
is that recently I was asked whether reports of species at Cocos
(Keeling) Islands were likely to be correct. The species queried breed
there in large numbers and have done so since the islands were first
surveyed!
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mount Eliza VIC 3930
Tel (03) 9787 7136
|
