birding-aus

Juvenile Bush-hen Difficulties

To: <>
Subject: Juvenile Bush-hen Difficulties
From: "Mark Roberts" <>
Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 17:23:52 +1000
Esther Townsend and I saw what appears to be a juvenile Bush-hen (Amaurornis olivaceous) in suburban Brisbane on Sunday.

The size, demeanour, environment and general appearance seemed to be correct but we struggled with a couple of details (see below.)

Here is our field description written after very good views but in somewhat dullish overcast light:

Absolutely no distinctive features! No white at all, no barring anywhere, beak and legs dull. Very plain, ordinary, nondescript, brownish bird with very uniform colouring (although I'm sure its mother loves it.)

Upperparts uniformly dark chocolate brown, almost shiny.

Underparts uniformly paler browny grey.

Under the tail possibly paler, apparently not ruddy, definitely no white.

Legs paler browny grey, not green.

Eyes black, making the face look darker than the body.

Bill uniformly dark ?grey, NOT green. Moderate length, not heavy, very ordinary. No frontal shield.

So the bird cannot be a juv Moorhen (no white under the tail) although it resembled one in many ways except size and maybe leg colour. And it isn't anything streaked or barred. And try as we might it isn't a Tassie Native-hen that's flown north 8^)

We're struggling with Bush-hen because of bill colour (brown or maybe grey, not green), undertail colour (paler browny grey not rufous), and leg colour (brown/grey not green). In each case what we are certain we saw is very much less striking than the books describe or show. It was a rainy overcast day (in Brisbane! in June!) but we couldn't explain what we saw just by the light.

Simpson & Day says BH juv "paler; bill all green" implying that the undertail is ruddy.

Morcombe says BH juv "paler, whitish throat, bill brown" also implying a ruddy undertail.

Pizzey says BH juv is "duller" and does not suggest the juv's undertail is different.

Anyone wanting to see a couple of very grainy photos or to learn the exact location please contact me.

I've googled in vain; does anyone have a juv or adult BH photo? I'm new round here and I've never seen one.


--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is now on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
--------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message 'unsubscribe
birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • Juvenile Bush-hen Difficulties, Mark Roberts <=
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