After seeing the Port Macquarie bird with Chris, I did some homework on
the calls of A.orientalis comparing the call of the Port Macquarie bird
with calls from a bird taped at Fogg Dam and birds taped at Ambon Island
in the Moluccas, all proved to be identical.
As a final check each of these tapes were sent off to Hong Kong for
comparison with their records/calls of A.orientalis and A arundinaceus
again the results were positive, ruling out any possibilty of
A.arundinaceus or A stentoreus. So the main criteria for acceptance of
the Port Macquarie bird as A.orientalis was its call. Fred Van Gessell
being the person who found this bird, doing so on call alone. This was
because of his familiarity with A.orientalis calls from the NT and
Kununurra.
However having said this, there does appear to be considerable variation
in the calls of A stentoreus (Australian Reed Warbler). The birds around
Halls Creek and Kununurra sound considerably different from those
locally here in Sydney. David Stewart I know has both on tape.
Regards
Tony Palliser (.....Sydney, Australia)
Phone.....+61 2 9900 1678 or Home +61 2 9427 7563
Fax.......+61 2 9900 1669
http://www.zip.com.au/~palliser
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