Phil raises a question about the status of this species in PNG. I saw a
Little Paradise-Kingfisher near the shore of Lake Murray in western PNG in
2006. It was indeed in a wet area of forest, which was seasonally flooded,
and was calling close to the ground, giving the soft call that Phil
describes.
Greg Roberts
Message: 8
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:24:46 +1000
From: Phil & Sue Gregory <>
Subject: Little (Lesser) Paradise Kingfisher
To:
Message-ID: <>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Great find by the folks up on Saibai, and a very unexpected sighting. This
species is actually rare and very poorly known, the call was not even known
until the mid-1990's and no-one had seen it for years, until it was
discovered at some sites along the Elevala River north of Kiunga, Western
Province in the 19990's. It likes denser forest with lots of rattans, and
may prefer slightly wetter forest microclimates, than Common
Paradise-Kingfisher, and it usually perches lower down than that bird, which
is quite often way high in the canopy. The call is a low whistled ' hu hu
hu" tremulous series, totally distinct to the noisy rattle of Common PK.
The status in the lower Trans-Fly these days is basically unknown, I know of
no sightings and would be very pleased to hear if anyone has more
information. Certainly on various trips to Bensbach I have not found this
bird, and I have been listening for the call, which is usually the best way
of finding it. What is also interesting is that there are no records at all
of wanderers, this Saibai record is the very first. I suspect another
cyclone driven bird, given all the activity along the monsoon front of late.
BirdLife International lists this species as Data Deficient, meaning we have
very little information about it.
Brian Coates' Birds of Papua New Guinea is one of the great bird books of
the last century, a tour de force and a superb reference source, but do be
aware that names change with time, and some of Brian's coinings are not
widely accepted. All the major world checklists and Beehler's standard New
Guinea Field Guide go with Little Paradise Kingfisher, which is what i have
always called it in my time in PNG. Whatever you call it, it's certainly a
most unexpected record, I was fully anticipating it to be Common Paradise
Kingfisher, for the reasons outlined above!
Cheers
Phil Gregory
www. cassowary-house.com.au
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