|
Hi all,
Philip and I have had some off-line dialogue about
my comments about differences between resident honeyeaters. Philip gracefully
accepted my observation while still being troubled by the size
issue.
I agree that fledgelings are often puffed up,
particularly when they sit on their haunches, so to speak.
On the other hand, I believe "size" is one of those
relative things. As field guides express it, it is an _expression_ of length from
bill to tail end, not of overall size.
So a Red Wattledbird is defined as 32-36 cms in
Morecambe's guide whereas a Satin Bowerbird is defined as 28-34 cms. You tell me
which one looks bigger?
Having seen Crescent Honeyeaters first in SA, in
the Adelaide Hills (where they did not seem much bigger than the New Hollands I
was used to in WA) through Tas, Vic and here in the ACT, my comment would be
that they are bigger in body here.
As I said to Phil, there was a couple to whom I
showed the CH honeyeater who remarked that it was much bigger than the NH and ES
honeyeaters in the immediate vicinity. Now maybe that was an _expression_ of the
volume of call, yet I think the untutored _expression_ is accurate at least for
this bird.
And ultimately what I find fascinating is that
Marmix recorded CHs in this location a while back and that they have been silent
while breeding until I was lucky enough to find the male celebrating the
succesful nesting (maybe?)
Now perhaps I'm getting too humanistic, but
that was my take on the performance in front of me...
Regards
Shaun Bagley
P.S. Jack Holland kindly identified the CHs as
"Shaun Bagley's" in a comment about Sunday's workshop. There is no ownership
felt here. Understand where he was coming from but they are truly brilliant
enough without any further description...
| 