birding-aus

A few hours in Brisbane

To: "michael hunter" <>
Subject: A few hours in Brisbane
From: "Norm Canton" <>
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2001 13:53:51 +1000
Following my trip to Brisbane when I heard Sivereyes in a Spring Hill street, Michael asked when and where the Zosterops were split. David in his 9 June posting asked the following:

>Greetings. Grateful for advice on current thinking about the taxonomy of
>Silvereyes/White-eyes on Lord Howe Island. Ian Hutton's book refers to
>the Lord Howe White-eye Zosterops tephropleura, and Simpson & Day agree.
>Christidis & Boles do not mention this species. Should we list it as Z.
>tephropleura or as Z. lateralis, the Silvereye?
>David
 
The Action Plan for Australian Birds, released last year has the following: referenced
from Scodde & Mason 1999.
 
Sivereye (Lord Howe Island)    Zosterops lateralis tephropleurus, listed as vulverable.
                                            Z. l. vegetus (Cape York)
                                            Z. l. cornwalli (Eastern Australia)
                                            Z. l. chlorocephalus (southern GB Reef Islands)
                                            Z. l. westernensis (SE Australia)
                                            Z. l. lateralis (Tasmania)
                                            Z. l. ochrochrous (King Island)
                                            Z. l. pinarochrous (S. Australia & W. Victoria)
                                            Z. l. chloronotus (SW Australia)
 
Michael Morcombe's Field Guide brackets the old names after the new, hence:
                                        cornwalli = familiaris (SE Qld to S. Vic)
                                        pinarochrous = halmaturina (SW Vic to Eyre Peninsula)
                                        vegetus = ramsayi (mid Qld coast N to Cape York)
                                        chloronotus = gouldi (southern SW to SW SA)
 
                unchanged are: lateralis, chlorocephalus &  tephropleurus
                new additions:  ochrochrous (King Island) & westernensis replacing
                                            cornwalli  in S & SE Vic.
 
I admit to being as confused as the next birder, particularly as 'East Australia' is a nebulous description of
geography at best. I live at latitude 19* south,  approx 500 kms south of Cape York and 1400 kms north of
Brisbane and the only Silvereyes I normally see are in the foothills of the ranges to the north of the city,
though a bird was sighted in Townsville (along the river) earlier this year.  What race would the ones I saw
when I lived in Canberra (1990-1) be, or the ones displacing the White-eyes on Norfolk Island?
 
Can anyone shed any light on the name changes and ranges?                                                                                      
 
Cheers
 
Alex Appleman
Townsville, NQ
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU