G'day everyone, The Hillarys pelagic trip of Perth in September 2010 recorded a
single 'pale' Wedgie, similar in plumage to Mick's bird, just north of Rottnest
Island. We described it as an intermediate morph, but as I say, it was similar
in plumage to Mick's bird, with pale underbody and underwings. Unfortunately
the bird didn't come into the boat and the only photos I know of are very
distant. I didn't take them, but I'll see if I can get permission from the
photographer to post them somewhere. I am away most of this coming week though,
so it may be a short while before I can sort it out. Interestingly, some field
guides claim that around 25% of WA birds are pale morph - I presume this is
based on the Serventy paper that has been mentioned, but certainly does not
hold true in waters off Perth and further south, and I've wondered in the past
where these claims came from! Cheers,John
> Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2012 20:56:17 -0800
> From:
> To: ; ;
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Intermediate pale morph Wedge-tailed Shearwater
> off Swansea, NSW
>
> Hi Jeff,
>
> Thanks for your comment. I totally agree. I was actually also trying to say
> that Mick's is a pale/"intermediate" morph bird (especially if you "lump"
> pale and intermediate), in contrast our cafe-au-lait and white-bellied birds
> are just weird dark morphs (e.g. "retained extremely worn belly"; and yes,
> I've seen this in Providence Petrels, too).
>
> That's why I asked for further photos/evidence of pale morph WTSWs in
> Australia. Looking forward to see Dave Stowe's picture of the 2006 Sydney
> bird (see Roger McGovern's comment).
>
> Thanks also for mentioning the two 1972 papers, Jeff. I had a quick look.
> Serventy (1972) made the conclusion (20-30%) from very low numbers if I
> didn't miss anything (3/13 and 4/20 fleglings). Apparently one bird was
> collected, previously, and should be in the WA Museum. Lane's bird was
> collected, too, and the specimen should be in the Australian Museum.
>
> Interestingly, you compared the colouration of Mick's bird to that of an
> intermediate morph Pink-footed Shearwater. There is an interesting article in
> the January 2012 issue of Birding (American Birding Association) discussing a
> quiz bird: a large dark shearwater. The author discusses the following
> questions. "Is it a Flesh-footed Shearwater?" "Is there such a thing as a
> dark morph Pink-footed Shearwater?" "Are there Flesh- x Pink-footed
> Shearwater hybrids?"
>
> http://www.aba.org/birding/v44n1p56.pdf
>
> Cheers,
>
> Nikolas
>
>
> ----------------
> Nikolas Haass
>
> Sydney, NSW
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Jeff Davies <>
> To: 'Nikolas Haass' <>; 'Mick Roderick'
> <>; 'Birding Aus' <>
> Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2012 1:45 PM
> Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] Intermediate pale morph Wedge-tailed Shearwater
> off Swansea, NSW
>
> G'day Nikolas,
>
> Mick's bird appears to have a typical pale morph body but with a slightly
> darker under-wing. However the only image that shows the darker than typical
> under-wing also shows an almost completely dark hood which we know isn't
> real from other photos of the bird on the water where it looks like a normal
> pale morph head, so it is difficult to judge how dark the under-wing really
> is. This slightly out of focus ventral view gives the equivalent impression
> of an intermediate morph Pink-footed Shearwater for the under-wing.
>
> Raja's bird looks to me like a dark morph with retained extremely worn
> belly, a bit like you sometimes see in Providence Petrel. The dorsal
> surface, head and flanks look fresh but the fresh feathers are tightly
> encircling a trashed belly, there is a sharp cut off between the trashed
> belly and the encircling fresh feathers.
>
> I am unaware of any photos from Australian waters of Pale morph birds apart
> from Mick's. HANZAB states there is a record of a pale morph bird breeding
> at Solitary Island NSW, Bill Lane 1972, and also Serventy 1972 estimates
> that 20-30% of birds breeding at Shark Bay are pale morph.
> Pale morphs are the norm in mid west pacific, Japan, Hawaii etc.
>
> Cheers Jeff.
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of Nikolas Haass
> Sent: Sunday, 5 February 2012 12:38 PM
> To: Nikolas Haass; Mick Roderick; Birding Aus
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Intermediate pale morph Wedge-tailed Shearwater
> off Swansea, NSW
>
> Sorry, I have not only seen cafe-au-lait coloured ones but also birds that I
> believe are dark morph but with aberrant pale bellies, such as this one in
> Raja's collection:
>
>
> http://www.adarman.com/Pelagics/2011-December-10-Sydney
>
> So this again makes Mick's, Steve's and Lucas's find so interesting!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Nikolas
>
>
> ----------------
> Nikolas Haass
>
> Sydney, NSW
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Nikolas Haass <>
> To: Mick Roderick <>; Birding Aus
> <>
> Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2012 12:25 PM
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Intermediate pale morph Wedge-tailed Shearwater
> off Swansea, NSW
>
> Hi Mick & Birding-aus,
>
> The bird looks certainly interesting!
> The only "pale" WTSWs I have seen in Australia were overall cafe-au-lait
> coloured. Mick's bird, however, looks "normal" from above and has clear
> white areas
> underneath (belly and underwing - but not extensive enough for a "perfect"
> pale
> morph WTSW), which makes it look like an "intermediate morph" WTSW. This is
> really interesting!
> Are there any further photos of pale morph or intermediate morph WTSWs in
> Australia? I know that there is a lot of rumour about pale WTSWs turning up
> here, but aren't they mainly just aberrant cafe-au-lait coloured WTSWs or
> are they really pale morph WTSWs?
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> Nikolas
>
>
> ----------------
> Nikolas Haass
>
> Sydney, NSW
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Mick Roderick <>
> To: Birding Aus <>
> Sent: Saturday, February 4, 2012 1:53 PM
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Intermediate pale morph Wedge-tailed Shearwater off
> Swansea, NSW
>
> Hi all,
>
> Steve and I took the tinny out today to about 20km off Swansea (NSW) to see
> if we could get amongst some of the interesting birds reported off the NSW
> coast in the past week. Seems the southerly air-flow may have spoilt the
> party following the cold water upwelling earlier in the week that saw sea
> temperatures plummet by 6 degrees overnight after a bout of nor-easters over
> warmer water.
>
> It was reasonably quiet today, but with the usual Wedgies, Fleshies and
> Short-taileds getting about (and more Hutton's than Fluttering, maybe a
> dozen of the former). On the way back in a bird that looked otherwise like a
> Wedge-tailed Shearwater but with pale underparts appeared in the throng. We
> have identified it as an intermediate morph Wedge-tailed Shearwater (there
> is a very low res image attached to a Birdline NSW report, but if anyone
> would like to see higher res images let me know and I'll forward them
> through).
>
> I've been trying to find info on just how commonly this morph is recorded in
> Australian waters and cannot find much at all. I recall talking to Lindsay
> Smith (SOSSA Wollongong) about this last weekend and I'm sure he said
> they've had very few, if any, off W'gong over the years.
>
> Has anyone else recorded pale Wedgies in south-eastern Australian waters?
>
> Mick
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