We have detailed notes in the pdf on all the subspecies we saw (Kai, the
link to the reprot is in my previous email) - I only wrote up the species I
know are or have been very close to being split, and agree there are many
others. We saw a few of the ones Kevin mentioned (eg: Thrush on Mount
Lewis, Brown Gerygone everywhere, the dark Grey Fantail, etc), but for the
moment there isn't much movement on any of them taxonomically speaking I
don't think. The Cape York finches were unfortunately not gettable on our
trip since we didn't go on the PDR or to the west Cape, though they
certainly warrant looking at - very different birds by the looks of it.
I hadn't heard of the Wet Tropics Cicadabird Mike - do you know what the
field differences are? We had good views of a couple of birds around
Julatten and Davies Creek Road.
Cheers,
Josh
On Thursday, 28 January 2016, Mike Carter <> wrote:
> Another that I didn't see get a mention is the 'Wet Tropics Cicadabird'
> that
> has perplexed many field observers with good hearing for decades. Glenn
> Holmes, who sadly passed away in December, was one with an interest in that
> bird.
>
> Mike Carter, 03 5977 1262
> 181/160 Mornington-Tyabb Road
> Mornington, VIC 3931, Australia
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Birding-Aus
> <javascript:;>] On Behalf Of
> Kev Lobotomi
> Sent: Wednesday, 27 January 2016 11:00 PM
> To: <javascript:;>; Birding-Aus
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Notes on Cape York Subspecies and Rarities
>
> Hi Joshua
> I would have thought there were even more potential splits up in north
> Queensland! How about the Atherton Thrush, the Brown Gerygone, the Atherton
> Grey Fantail, even the Golden Whistler, which isn't even a subspecies looks
> a bit different up there, and there's the Purple-necked Brush-Turkey. Then
> there's the Cape York finches, White-eared Masked, White-bellied Crimson
> etc. There may even be more. I think some good genetic work may have many
> more splits yet to come!-Kevin Bartram
>
> > From: <javascript:;>
> > To: <javascript:;>
> > Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2016 10:11:30 +0000
> > Subject: [Birding-Aus] Notes on Cape York Subspecies and Rarities
> >
> >
> >
> > Max Breckenridge, Ashwin Rudder, Nathan Ruser and myself spent the first
> half of January up around Cape York and Cairns. I have prepared some notes
> on some of the new splits and mythical rarities around the area, along with
> our experiences. I am also happy to help out with further information
> regarding the below mentioned subspecies, etc. More information about our
> sightings and experiences over the whole 3 weeks can be found in our
> extensively detailed ~50 page trip report at
>
> http://www.cloudbirders.com/tripreport/repository/BERGMARK_Australia_1201_20
> 152016.pdf
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > SPOTTED CATBIRD
> > Likely split in the next version of IOC, the Cape York (Iron Range) form
> will be different to the Cairns form. As others have noted, the northern
> birds are much more skulky than their southern counterparts, however in
> Iron
> Range National Park we had multiple views, particularly around the
> Rainforest Campground and the start of the Coen Track nearby. They would
> tend to perch briefly in trees calling, then as soon as we got close they
> would fly away 50m, then keep calling. In all, not too hard to get a view
> of
> if you try.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > HERBERTON FUSCOUS HONEYEATER
> > Described as Fuscous, reassigned to Yellow-tinted, then switched back to
> Fuscous more recently, this strange intermediate population is quite
> variable, and certainly doesn't fit well with either Fuscous or
> Yellow-tinted as a species. I believe work is currently being carried out
> on
> these birds by Lloyd Nielson, but in the meantime, the birds are not hard
> to
> find at all. Best spot is in the forested square along Wieland Road, just
> south of Herberton, but they are quite common through most wooded areas in
> the surrounding region, including along the main track through Wondecla
> State Forest.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > BLACK TREECREEPER
> > Not sure on whether this is likely to be split soon, if ever, but
> certainly the northern race of Brown Treecreeper is very different to the
> form down south (indeed, they were once different species). Best spot is
> the
> end of Pickford Road just north of Mareeba, and the first kilometre of the
> road into Mareeba Wetlands (we had a number of birds in this area).
> Apparently also at Wondecla State Forest, but we did not see them here
> (though we only visited for a short period of time).
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > RED BOOBOOK
> > A tricky subspecies to pin down properly, as numerous individuals are
> hybrids with ocellata, particularly on Mount Lewis it seems. January is not
> the prime owl time, and understandably we heard one bird during our many
> nights spotlighting around Cairns. We did manage to get eyes on this bird
> on
> Mount Lewis, though it appears to be not a pure lurida. Simon Gorta and
> Andrew Walker are in the region this week, and a few days ago night found
> two probable hybrids at Wallaman Falls (one of them potentially pure,
> though
> it is unclear from photos at this stage). There are very few photos of pure
> birds (Geoff Jones has some great ones from Rose Gums
> (
> http://www.barraimaging.com.au/BIRD-FAMILIES-OF-THE-WORLD/Tinamous-To-Parro
> ts/Owls-Family-Strigidae/Southern-Boobook-Ninox-boobook/i-NCsW9vn), but it
> is quite clear that you cannot count just any boobook you find in
> rainforest. The case for splitting in this case seems quite weak, however
> as
> Jeff Davies noted in a message to us, if Black-eared Miner is a species,
> Red
> Boobook is just as valid. Best sites are apparently Mount Lewis, Lake
> Eacham, Rose Gums, and the road to Tully Gorge.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > TROPICAL ROSELLA
> > Recent genetics have shown this form of Crimson Rosella is more distinct
> than Green Rosella is to the southern Crimson Rosella complex, so will
> likely be split in the near future. Unlike its southern counterparts, the
> 'Tropical' Rosella is definitely not an easy bird to come by, and should be
> specifically targeted for anyone interested. Best spots are the Gourka Road
> / Bartle Frere Road (signposted as the former, Google Maps labels it the
> latter), and the Seamark Road / Turner Road / McKell Road / Mount Hypipamee
> area. We saw 2 birds during our visit, and the differences really are quite
> obvious compared to the southern birds - darker back and facial patterns
> specifically. I heard today that Andrew and Simon saw some at both Mount
> Hypipamee and Hasties Swamp, though I suspect that they are very irregular
> at the latter site.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > BUFF-BREASTED BUTTON-QUAIL
> > At the time of writing, this species has not been reliably recorded
> around
> Cairns (or anywhere?) since 2011. Areas need to be found with sparse grass,
> unburnt on the lower slopes of hills. In the past, the best areas have been
> to the east of Lake Mitchell, however we were not able to locate any
> suitable habitat here when we checked, as the unusual early December rains
> had caused rapid grass growth. The far western boundaries of Mareeba
> Wetlands have been very good in the past, however current ownership does
> not
> allow access during the wet season, and hence reduces any chance of finding
> this species to almost zero. AWC land towards Mount Carbine contained the
> best habitat we could see from the road, however Lloyd Nielsen, Australia's
> leading expert on this species, has advised that checking these areas in
> the
> past did not produce any birds. If you intend to search for this species,
> Lloyd is certainly the best person to get in contact with (and indeed, he
> thinks he may possibly have flushed one bird at the traditional "truck
> stop"
> site last year), but currently the species may be best searched for further
> afield, towards Coen, and others more central areas of Cape York.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ATHERTON QUAIL-THRUSH
> > This seemingly cryptic bird was discovered in 2007 near Ravenshoe (see
>
> http://blogs.ecology-solutions.com.au/bird-o/2010/05/06/the-new-atherton-qua
> il-thrush/), however all details have subsequently been suppressed,
> seemingly due to the observer having bad experiences with taxonomists
> wishing to collect specimens. Judging off available photos, a number of
> Australian experts agree that these abnormally rufous birds represent a new
> species of quail-thrush, but for any classification to be attempted, birds
> need to be caught, recorded, measured and have feathers taken. Note that a
> bird would not necessarily need to be collected. Initially, the bird was
> thought to be critically endangered, however exchanges with the finder
> (both
> by us, and other North Qld birders we have spoken with) indicate that in
> fact these birds are flourishing in the right areas, and are widespread
> around Ravenshoe (some birds apparently seen just outside town), and as far
> north as at least Dimbulah. Despite this, nobody has been privileged with
> site information, even almost a decade after discovery, and it appears the
> only way to find out more about this probable species is to locate some. A
> number of locals have searched for the quail-thrush every now and then, but
> as of yet, nobody has had success. This is likely due to a very small
> number
> of birdwatchers actually looking, since the area they are to be found is
> devoid of almost all other bird life, as we discovered over a three day
> search. Armed with multiple weeks of research and GIS data, correlating all
> available information as best we could, our group put a concerted effort
> into locating the quail-thrush. Despite not having success, we believe we
> were on the right track, and with a few more people looking, birds could be
> found over the next few years. This would allow research to be carried out,
> and probably result in the first bird to be described from Australia in a
> long, long time.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Information that we collected included:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 1: All the available photos online were taken in late November 2008,
> according to EXIF data still present on the shots. The habitat has been
> recently burnt, and so, by cross-referencing with burn scar data from
> firenorth.org.au, we narrowed down the most likely search areas.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 2: GIS satellite-based analysis of both the southern Spotted Quail-thrush
> and Buff-rumped Thornbill / Painted Button-quail (noted by the finder to be
> 'surprisingly common' in the areas he found quail-thrush.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 3: Geological and botanical maps based off what we could see visually in
> the photos. This was difficult online, but in the field we found a number
> of
> areas which matched exactly.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > All in all, we decided the best way to search for these birds would be to
> focus on burnt areas. From experience with birds in NSW, they may well
> still
> be present in more densely-grassed habitat, however they are much easier to
> spot in recently burnt areas, being quite an unobtrusive bird, often easy
> to
> overlook. Those familiar with the very high-pitched contact call can't go
> wrong by searching any good rocky areas of burnt ridgeline between Silver
> Valley and Herberton, however we picked out some prime areas we think
> warrant further searching. This map (http://i.imgur.com/exp8Sxg.jpg)
> highlights major areas which probably should be checked. We hiked up Mount
> Klaatsch (right marker at -17.459248, 145.301385), though the grass was
> very
> dense, and no areas of ground quite matched up to that available photos of
> the quail-thrush. If this area was burnt one year, it would be worth
> checking a few weeks afterwards. We also followed a number of the 4WD
> tracks
> visible on Google Maps to the west (left marker), though again found mostly
> quite dense habitat, needing a good fire to be suitable for searching the
> steep slopes.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > There was a long stretch along Mt Misery Road (from about a kilometre
> south before it intersects Gibbs Creek all the way almost in to Irvinebank)
> which was unburnt, but looked relatively sparse, and perfect for
> quail-thrush which is easily accessible even without a 4WD. Further south,
> we had been following the road which runs west, then subsequently north
> from
> Silver Valley, and found a good patch of burnt bush along a ridge which we
> spent a good chunk of time searching, though no thrush. This was perfect
> habitat, and certainly any bits similar in the same general vicinity could
> very easily hold individuals (GPS: -17.593949, 145.276960).
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Again, please feel free to contact us for further information - I will
> happily help out anyone who is intending to go and have a look for this
> species, and have been very interested in the form ever since I heard about
> it half a decade ago - email me at
> <javascript:;>, or contact
> Nathan Ruser, Max Breckenridge, or Ashwin Rudder.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _____________________________
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > As a side note, for those who followed 'The Decline of Birding-Aus' email
> thread, one of the key points noted was that the reduced use of BA in
> favour
> of Facebook has been cutting the number of recent trip reports and
> up-to-date gen available. I encourage everyone to have a look at
> www.cloudbirders.com, as it is an excellent website, allowing easy uploads
> of PDF files, or linking to a birding blog, etc. It has up-to-date
> information from all over the world, and is my go-to research base
> nowadays.
> Australia however, is quite underrepresented (eg: only 15 trip reports from
> 2015, and 12 of which were uploaded by companies such as Birdquest or
> Tropical Birding), however with more local contributors uploading reports,
> it could become very useful to Australian birders. Over the next few weeks
> I
> am intending to go through and upload all my more recent trip reports from
> the Gawler Ranges, Tasmania, Broome, Bowra and central west NSW, but if
> others follow suit over the next year or so, trip information like this
> will
> be easily accessible in the future.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers, and good birding,
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Josh
> > <HR>
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