birding-aus

Possible White-browed/Masked woodswallow hybrid

To: Mick Roderick <>, Vivien Rolland <>, "" <>, Raja Stephenson <>
Subject: Possible White-browed/Masked woodswallow hybrid
From: Nikolas Haass <>
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:36:06 -0700 (PDT)
Ooops, the correct date is '27th December 2012'.

Nikolas
 
----------------
Nikolas Haass

Brisbane, QLD


________________________________
From: Mick Roderick <>
To: Nikolas Haass <>; Vivien Rolland <>; 
"" <>; Raja Stephenson 
<> 
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 12:24 PM
Subject: Possible White-browed/Masked woodswallow hybrid
 


Nikolas ... Did you mean "27th December 2012" or did you mean "Raja and I are 
going to observe a...." ;-)
 
Hi Vivien,
 
Graeme Chapman actually discussed that bird on the link that you posted Vivien, 
which is available on the Birding-aus archives. See:
 
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/birding-aus/2012-11/msg00039.html
 
There are some other places for you to research suggested by him as well. I 
haven't tracked down the Leo Joseph book that he mentions, but it sounds like a 
great read.
 
Of interest, HANZAB says that "Evidence of hybridisation equivocal" and goes on 
to cite some examples where the evidence wasn't quite strong enough to be 
unequivocal, one of which was described by McGill when a male White-browed and 
a female Masked had a nest with eggs but the "pair was collected before the 
eggs were allowed to hatch"!!
 
I also recall seeing a photo of a potential hybrid taken by someone at...Bowra 
maybe? 
 
See also the link below for another bird very similar to one on Graeme's 
website. 
 
http://www.mdahlem.net/img/ozbirds/22/mskswal_bh_1050567_big.jpg
 
Mick 
  
From: Nikolas Haass <>
To: Vivien Rolland <>; "" 
<>; Raja Stephenson <> 
Sent: Wednesday, 16 October 2013 11:35 AM
Subject: Possible White-browed/Masked woodswallow hybrid
 

Hi Vivien,

Raja
 and I observed a White-browed/Masked Woodswallow hybrid 27th December 2013 
at Whoey Tank, Round Hill, NSW (Eremaea/Birdline NSW #160543). I am pretty sure 
that Raja has some pictures of this bird. They are not yet uploaded to the 
website but we will have a look for them and make them available.

Best wishes,

Nikolas
 
----------------
Nikolas Haass

Brisbane, QLD


________________________________
From: Vivien Rolland <>
To:  
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 9:18 AM
Subject: Possible White-browed/Masked woodswallow hybrid


Hi,

Yesterday 15th of october at Campbell Park (ACT) there was a group of 30+ 
White-browed and 5 Masked woodswallows in which I found a peculiar bird which I 
now think is a male White-browed/Masked woodswallow hybrid.
The bird was perched quite low together with 2-3 White-browed Woodswallows and 
I could see it for about 30 seconds. It had bright rufous underparts (like a 
male White-browed Woodswallow) and a black eye/face/throat mask (like a male 
Masked Woodswallow). There was a thin white line around the black mask that 
turned into a thicker white band on its upper chest creating a neat contrast 
with both black and rufous parts.

I only have HANZAB vol. 1 so far - still looking for all the other ones so if 
you want to sell them contact me in private! - so I couldn't check whether it 
mentions Woodswallow hybrids.
I therefore turned to the internet - always dangerous, I know!
Photo 544204-D at 
http://www.graemechapman.com.au/library/viewphotos.php?c=576displays a bird 
similar to what I saw yesterday (top bird obviously).

I am interested in information about woodswallow hybrids so I turn to 
experienced Australian birders out there.
How common are Woodswallow hybrids? How much variation do they show? Are there 
confirmed observations of female hybrids?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Cheers,
Vivien Rolland (Viv)
ACT
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