Hi all - for your interest -
Just heard (via Steve Garnett) that Mike Trenerry of the Queensland Dept of
Environment saw a Rufous-bellied Kookaburra (Dacelo gaudichaud) on Saibai
Island while doing a fauna survey there. This would be a new one for the
Australian list. Mike had very good views of it from about 10m at the
Saibai dump and recognised it immediately from having just boned up on the
'Birds of New Guinea', but could not find it again later, so it would be
very chancy to try and chase it up there.
Saibai, although politically part of Queensland, lies just off the New
Guinea coast, so the sighting is not particularly extraordinary and it
higlights the anomalies inherent in constructing bird lists for political
rather than geographic entities.
Mike is very busy writing up the report on his trip for the Department (and
I hope he will also put in a submission to the BA Rarities Committee), and
would not appreciate a flood of phone calls at the moment, but if you really
need to get in touch you can write to him c/- the Department at PO Box 2066,
Cairns, Qld 4870.
Cheers, Hugo.
Hugo Phillipps,
Birds Australia Conservation & Liaison,
Australian Bird Research Centre,
415 Riversdale Road,
Hawthorn East, VIC 3123, Australia.
Tel: (03) 9882 2622. Fax: (03) 9882 2677.
O/s: +61 3 9882 2622. Fax: +61 3 9882 2677.
Email: <>
Web Homepage: http://www.vicnet.net.au/~birdsaus/
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