This is, indeed, correct. A separate subspecies of Little Corella inhabits
the savanna areas of s. New Guinea, from around Kumbe (Kurik, Merauke) in
extreme se. Irian Jaya, and into Papua New Guinea, through the Bensbach and
Morehead River regions to the lower Fly River.
It is the subspecies Cacatua sanguinea transfreta, which is distinguished
from the nominate form by being smaller (wing 224-255 mm, about the same as
for the w. Cape York Pen. form, C. s. normantoni, but as opposed to 260-313
mm for the nominate race), and by a brownish suffusion on undersides of
flight and tail feathers.
It goes around in flocks in the savanna and along forest edges, feeds on the
ground and roosts in trees - much as the Australian birds, I suppose. It
sometimes feeds in company with Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and Red-winged
Parrots.
Paul Van Gasse
Kruibeke, Belgium
Eric Hocking wrote:
>Just passing this on from a request on rec.birds. None of my references
>cover this and in fact have conflicting taxonomy. Can anyone help?
>
>gordon greenblatt wrote:
>>
>> Does anyone have information about a subspecies of the little corella
>> cockatoo that is from New Guinea, not from Australia? They have a darker
>> "orange yellow" on the undersides of their tail feathers, rather than a
>> plain yellow color.
>
>--
>Eric Hocking
>"A closed mouth gathers no feet"
>== Melbourne, Australia ==
>http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ehocking
>
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