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I
recall a COG outing some years ago when we thought it odd that there were a
couple of juvenile Dollarbirds sitting on the ground at the edge of the car park
at the East Uriarra reserve. It was decided that they were recent fledglings
that were not skilled or confident to fly back up to arboreal safety. Geoff
suggests this is a regular thing, it is mentioned in HANZAB.
On the
second question, yes if the bird naturally occurs at both ends of its migration
movement it is called native to both countries / continents
etc.
If
birds are given a geographic related name, these commonly just reflect the
precedent, accident or biases of history of who and where it was first
described. These do cause confusion. So there are different answers to that
question and at least a few frauds, like the Laughing Kookaburra and Gentoo
Penguin whose scientific names suggest they come from Papua New Guinea. Both the
result of explorer fraud.
Texts
from Europe will say that all these northern hemisphere breeding migrant
birds (mostly waders) winter in Australia. They don't. They spend the
northern hemisphere winter here but they summer here (i.e. follow the summer).
Philip
Undiscouraged
by the address clearly not referring to myself, I offer the following. As
to the first, on this chatline we have previously discussed the phenomenon of
‘falling dollarbirds’ - fledglings that leave the nest prematurely and can
actually be picked up from the ground. This is the time of year; in
fact we are about to have the ‘dollarbirds in suburbs’ conversation.
If the subject here was a juvenile it would be in that category, if
not it might have been an adult tending a fallen juvenile.
The
second question might be prompted by the highly abbreviated language of field
guides. Explanation of populations and movements of dollarbirds and koels
would require several pages, if they can be explained at all.
From: jude
hopwood [
Sent: Saturday, 21 January 2012
12:40 PM
To: COG
Subject: [canberrabirds]
Query
Can anyone clarify this? Firstly, that Dollarbirds
rarely feed on the ground according to BIB. The first of the two I spotted
at Newline yesterday was on the ground creaking away which is what caught my
attention. It was only as I approached the zone where he was sitting on
the ground that he flew off and joined his friend. (I use 'he' without
evidence.) I did not at any stage see any grasshoppers
(BIB).
The other query, how does a bird gain a description as being
from a particular country, when they spend half the year, like the Dollabird and
Koel, in another country. What is it that makes them PNG - not Australian
native?
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