The Cutting Edge.
In July, Don and Llaney Hadden came down to Cairns from Arawa on
Bougainville where they are helping to resurrect the town, Don at the
school where he was for 5 yrs before the troubles and Llaney at the
hospital where she had been at the same time.
Some birding-aus members will remember Don Hadden, from Christchurch NZ,
as the world authority on the birds of Bougainville, and as the person who
found the last new bird endemic to Australasia, Megalurulus whitneyi
llaneae, which has since been elevated to species level, Megalurulus
llaneae, the Bougainville Thicketbird.
Now he's done it again, with not one, but two new species. At least his
friends there have, as Don is still not allowed into the mountains where
the Panguna mine is, even though he is very well known there. White men are
simply not trusted in the highlands of Bougainville. Which is a pity
because this is where the two new species come from.
The two specimens Don has are both of unknown species although his friend
who brought them in says that one is the famous "Odidi" of Jared Diamond's,
which has only been heard by both Jared and Don. This bird is named after
its call, and it is said to accompany the Island Thrush through the forest.
Don's photos are of very scraggly birds just semi-thawed from the
freezer, but most of the plumage tracts and colours are recognisable.
The possible Odidi is quite small Don says (there is nothing extra in the
photos to guage the sizes by), possibly shorter than 15cm, and is a
passerine in his opinion. It is a dull bird, brownish on top and greyish
under with a beak similar to (my opinion) a Grey-headed or White-browed
Robin.
The most interesting thing about the plumage is that the wings are very
short, and even though the flight feathers appeared to be fresh, we
wondered if it might be flightless.
The second species is a litle larger, brownish with a what seemed to be a
worn yellowish tail. We all sat around at Cassowary House wondering what
family it might be in. Beak shape similar to a ?Greater Melampitta? or
?Pitohui? with that hook on the end.
Finally we plumped for the Shrikebill family but we're all just guessing,
even Don.
We'll just have to wait until he does more research on these two species
before decisions are made. Don won't be out of Bougainville until mid-Dec,
and then for good as he has to return to his teaching job in Christchurch
next year.
Until then, communication with the outside world from Arawa is not easy
without power or phone so his research will be quite limited. However,
copies of the photos have been in the hands of Mary Lecroy of the American
Museum of Natural History for a few months and now sent to Jared Diamond at
UCLA. We think.
I hope that Don will leave the specimens themselves with Walter Boles or
Les Christidis. If they last that long.
So it will be many months before these specimen are written up, and maybe
a year before publication, but I'm only guessing again.
In the meantime, Phil Gregory is visiting Don at Arawa or is just about
to get back, and may have further news.
I would like to go over in late November, after his school's exams have
finished, just to see the Woodford's Rail which he says are roaming around
what is left of the streets.
The supposedly rare Imitator Goshawk is also there.
Don also wants company on an island-hopping trip in November on a new
freighter service from Kieta to the Mortlocks to Feni to Nissan to the
Carterets to Buka to Kieta. To watch out for any pelagics.
I don't know whether I can make it for the pelagic as we have a short
BOCA-local members tour earlier that month to New Caledonia. I'm torn
between a Kagu and a Heinroth's Shearwater myself but I'm sure Don would
welcome someone else for company.
We're at the cutting edge of Australasian and World Ornithology up here.
Well, now that I've finally got back onto birding-aus after an absence of
3 years I should keep reporting in. Perhaps the next should be a report of
the end of our tour of PNG last August, when we spent 3 days in Buka,
probably the first bird tour ever to go there. Think Sanford's Sea-eagle
(first records) and Pied Goshawk from 20 paces, just sitting there.
Beautiful. Birding is such fun.
Andy Anderson.
Andrew P.Anderson's *
AUSTRALASIAN BIRDING SERVICES * Box 7999 Cairns 4870,Australia
Australia-New Zealand-New Guinea-Moluccas-S.W.Pacific * tel/fax 61 7 40318803
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