|
HOW MANY SPECIES OF BIRDS HAVE
BEEN RECORDED FOR NSW?
The other day Dr Peter Milburn asked
me how many species of birds have been recorded for NSW and was it written up
somewhere? The question set me thinking to determine just what might be the
current list which offically I don't think is published anywhere? So I started
with Morris, McGill & Holmes (1981) A Handlist of Birds in New South
Wales, which listed 529 species for the State. With the publication of
Christidis & Boles (1994) The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia
and its Territories, three Pardalaote species were removed from the NSW
List (viz Yellow-rumped, Eastern Straited & Black-headed Pardalote) and two
species were split and so the Rufous Fieldwren and the Russet-tailed Thrush were
added to the NSW list, bringing the number back to 528.
There was a Supplementry
List of unconfirmed records for NSW in the 1981 Handlist, of which
five species now have been confirmed as occuring in NSW viz Antarctic Petrel,
Streaked Shearwater, Greater Frigatebird, Painted Firetail & Metallic
Starling which brings the total to 534 species.
Since 1981, the following 14
additional species have been recorded for NSW viz Garganey, Northern Pintail,
Marcaroni Penguin, White-necked Petrel, Red-footed Booby, Pied Heron,
Black-naped Tern, Bridled Tern, White-rumped
Swiftlet, Banded Whiteface, Banded Honeyeater, Yellow-bellied Sunbird,
Shining Flycatcher, Black-backed Wagtail, bringing the total to 548 species for
NSW.
It is acknowledged that in the light
of the recent reviews of the Albatross taxonomy and the review of
passerines by Dr Richard Shodde, the NSW list is probably higher
however Birds Australia at this stage has not accepted and published a new
list of birds that incorporates these changes, so that it is not possible to say
with any certainly what these changes might be. So therefore, it is my view that
based on Christidis & Boles (1994), the current NSW list of birds is 548
species.
The most interesting thing about the
additions is that some species which had not been recorded in 1981, are now
moderately common summer visitors to NSW waters viz Streaked Shearwater
and White-necked Petrel (the latter now breeding on Norfolk Island), while the
Pied Heron, having only been reported twice in NSW prior to 2001, had a
20+ pair nesting colony in the Macquarie Marshes in the spring of
2000.
Alan Morris
Records Officer, Birding
NSW
|
