I wonder if Q2 is anything to do with the amount of hot sunlight the birds have
been exposed to over a long time. For example, compare the summer Perth had
compared to the summer on the east coast.
Sonja Ross
On 26/07/2011, at 1:19 PM, Tony Lawson wrote:
> A friend recently posed these questions. Does anyone have a good answer?
>
> Tony
>
>
>
> Both were questions asked yesterday at a course I'm teaching, and I can't
> satisfactorily answer either.
>
> 1. Why are NZ birds generally less brightly coloured than east coast
> Australian ones?
>
>> A couple of possible responses occur to me:
>> a. It's a false premise - there are too few terrestrial native NZ species to
>> make a valid comparison.
>> b. NZ species tend to be dense forest dwellers, where colour is less
>> relevant in communication than in the open forests and woodlands of eastern
>> Australia. But since I haven't even set foot in our nearest Gondwanan
>> neighbour I'm not even sure if my starting point is correct.
>> In any case I don't find either response very satisfactory.
>
> 2. What is it about WA that 'fades' birds?! eg Yellow-tailed to White-tailed
> Black-cockies; Eastern Yellow to Western Yellow and White-breasted Robins.
>
>> It's such a small sample size that I'm forced to concede that it's probably
>> coincidence, but that doesn't satisfy me either.
>>
>
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