New Species Named by Gould from the Tip of Cape York 1848 to 1869 - Part II

Here is Part 2 of Gould's New Species at Cape York.

Fawn breasted Bowerbird:

A bower was sent to London to be displayed in the British Museum. Named by Gould in 1850. Local indigenous name recorded at the time Tewinya. A detailed description of the bird’s behaviour near the bower was recorded which alluded to how difficult bowers are to locate and how secretive the bird can be.

Fawn-breasted Bowerbird at the bower

Yellow-breasted Boatbill:

Named by Gould in 1851 based on a single specimen which appears to be a male. The plate below shows a reproduction of the original depiction of Gould’s Yellow-breasted Boatbill

The Yellow-breasted Boatbill was “…observed it on the skirts of …dense brushes…making short flights…snapping at passing flies…returning to the same tree…no other samples were seen”  

 

Lovely Fairy-wren:

Collected in 1849 and named by Gould in 1852. He erroneously named the female and the male as separate species. This took some years to be clarified. Interestingly, James Cockerell who shot the “two species” which, he noted to be always in each other’s company, claimed them to be the same species and Gould refers to this fact in his supplement but refutes it.

White-eared Monarch: Gould received specimens from the Tip of Cape York and Dunk Island so assumed the species was present at all points between. There are 2 records on eBird in the last 7 years for the Tip of Cape York. A single specimen was collected by McLennan in 1914. The authors have not had the good fortune to see this bird at this location, nor did other recent guides. It was named by Gould as a new species in 1851.

Yellow-spotted Honeyeater:

Named by Gould in 1867 the specimen having been sent by John Jardine the original superintendent of Somerset. “…it belongs to a section of the genus of which three or four species are known…largest is Lewin’s Honeyeater…the smallest is Graceful Honeyeater…” (Gould 1869) Gould here perhaps unknowingly foreshadowing the issues separating these species for the next century and a half.

White-streaked Honeyeater:

Named in 1869 initially after the collector James Cockerell. Cockerell was the first native-born non-Indigenous Australian to collect for Gould, previously all had been British. This is the only true endemic Cape York species, all other endemics are found south of Cape York or in New Guinea.

Graceful Honeyeater:

Named by Gould in 1866 for the gracilis subspecies from Cape York. The Wet Tropics imitrix subspecies was named by Mathews in 1912. Following Nielsen’s landmark paper, this split is now accepted by the IOC as 2 separate species i.e., Cryptic Honeyeater now replacing ssp. imitrix. Graceful Honeyeater is now a Cape York species.

Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo:

A specimen was sent to Gould from Cape York by John Jardine of Somerset and named by Gould in 1867.

More interesting and entertaining historic birding information from Cape York and the Gulf coming soon!

New Species Named by Gould from the Tip of Cape York 1848 to 1869 - Part I

This information was researched and written up by Rob Reed. The text has been edited by Doug Herrington who also supplied the photos. Rob Reed has had the opportunity of living for 7 years in the area in all seasons and has developed familiarity with the local birds and their habitats and was readily conscripted to assist with guiding for Birdwatching Tropical Australia. Doug Herrington, owner guide for Birdwatching Tropical Australia has conducted many tours and private trips to the region alone and together with Rob Reed and has extensive experience with the species to be found here. 

John Gould

 Ten birds were obtained and named for the first time as novelties (new species known to science) and are still attributable to Gould.

Northern Scrub-Robin (Drymodes Superciliaris):

Attained in 1849 by MacGillivray and named to Gould in 1850. MacGillivray writes “…after watching near the nest for some time, one of the owners appeared, and was procured…it (the second bird) approached me within three or four yards, hopping with sudden jerks…it uttered no cry…” 

Our experience with sighting of this birds has similarities – it can be very difficult to find as we find the calls to be quite ventriloqual in nature but is quite confiding if you keep totally still. The Aboriginal name when procured in 1849 was Trokaroo. 

Northern Scrub-Robin

Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher (Tanysiptera Sylvia):

Named by Gould in 1850.  The Gudang name was Quatawur. The Gudang people of the area were also able to enlighten MacGillivray as to the nest arrangements “…3 eggs in a rainforest termite mound…” MacGillivray also suspected this bird was present on the south coast of New Guinea as he had seen a head on a necklace of a local tribesman there which had close resemblance. “…plentiful…frequents the dense bushes…first made aware of its presence by the glancing of bright colours as it darted out with a rapid arrow-like flight…disappeared in an instant…its cry…uttered when perched on a bare transverse branch…its look-out station...is a shy suspicious bird, and one well-calculated to try the patience…”. We, and others who have stalked this bird, believe this to be a very accurate description and feel his frustration.

Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher

John Jardine, superintendent at Somerset (Injinoo name Pulu) published an account of this bird which, despite his highly intransigent relationship with the local indigenous peoples, shows how thoroughly reliant collectors and observers were on these peoples for accurate information. “My collection comprises more than one hundred species of land-birds…” and “To my constant enquiries to the blacks for this bird I was always told by them that when the wind and rain came from the north-east the birds would come, and their prediction was verified to the letter. They also say the birds come from Dowdai (New Guinea).”

Part II will be published soon!

 

Wet Season at The Iron Range - January 2023

I had a great trip to Iron Range this January with 2 groups of 4 people each.

Group 1 - Carol Popple, Andrew Crouch, Paul Newman and Steve Popple

 I arrived with the first group of 4 people on 4th January.

Group 2 - George Appleby, Chrissy Freestone, Richard Alcorn and Margaret Alcorn

I had a wonderful day off between groups and managed to catch up with a few locals and get in a bit of photography for myself.

Papuan Pitta photographed on my day off

We soon got into the pattern of the weather this year. It was much wetter than usual and seemed to rain most afternoons from around 2.30pm until around 5pm so we did not get in much birding in the afternoons.

A rainy afternoon at Green Hoose

We sometimes had a few showers in the evenings also but it was mostly okay for spotlighting.

Immature Green Python found whilst Spotlighting

Green Python on one of the spotlighting evenings

We stayed at the Green Hoose where there is plenty of good birding on the property. We breakfasted at 6am each morning and then headed out to the rain forest or the scrub enjoying a great variety of birds, insects and reptiles. Lunch was back at the Green Hoose at around noon followed by a bit of a break and then back out into the bush for more birding if it was not raining too hard.

Black-faced Monarch

Red-cheeked Parrot

White-streaked Honeyeater

We found the morning birding to be much more rewarding than later in the day. Our lovely hosts at Green Hoose had dinner ready for us each evening at 6pm. We generally headed out for a bit of spotlighting after dinner. The wet weather seemed to be bringing out a lot of Green Pythons but putting a bit of a damper on the Marbled Frogmouth which where difficult to find in the usual spots!

Northern Death Adder found on the road at night

Marbled Frogmouth

Besides the Rainforest we also visited Chilli Beach, Quentel Beach and Mango Dam.

Scoping shorebirds at Chilli Beach

Lovely tranquil Mango Dam

I found Iron Range very busy this year but did run into a lot of interesting people, particularly R. Bruce Richardson and Ian Lock.

Bruce and myself at Lockhart Airport

As I neared the end of the two weeks I was really looking forward to getting home and getting dry but as usual, wishing I could stay a bit longer in this awesome place!

Saw-shelled Turtle we rescued from the road.

Seven days to Iron Range and back

 

Departing Mossman at 7 am on day one we has a brief stop at Mary Farms to see if we could get a few photos of the Australian Bustard in the morning light. We found a few good birds and then came across this male who posed beautifully for us.

Australian Bustard

We drove on to Lakeland downs where we stopped for a delicious local coffee before carrying on to Artemis Station for the Golden-shouldered Parrots. They are easy to see near the feeder at the main entrance when they come to feed in the early morning and late afternoon.

Golden-shouldered Parrot

Golden-shouldered Parrot

Golden-shouldered Parrot

A few of the other birds in the area where the Black-backed Butcherbird and both species of Kookaburra. The dam down the road had Wandering-whistling Duck and Comb-creasted Jacana on the water.

Black-backed Butcherbird

From here we headed on to Musgrave Station where we spent the night. On the road to Coen the following morning we spotted the nest of a Black-breasted Buzzard. It was lovely to get perched photos of a bird we usually see flying. We were also lucky enough to witness a nest changeover between the male and female!

Black-breasted Buzzard

Black-breasted Buzzard

Black-breasted Buzzard

Black-breasted Buzzard

Black-breasted Buzzard

After a brief stop in Coen to top up the fuel and check out the Black Flying Fox colony we continued on to Lockhart River and the Green Hoose where we spent two nights.  Over the next two days we explored the Iron Range and Lockhart river area.We investigated a tree hollow where fifteen Eclectus Parrots where making an awful racket. They seemed to be challenging some Sulphur-crested Cockatoo for the nesting hollow.

Eclectus Parrot male 

Eclectus Parrot

Eclectus Parrot female

Eclectus Parrot female

One of out best sightings of the trip was an hour spent near a Magnificent Riflebird perch. We watched him come and go, saw him display twice and had a female come to the perch once. 

Magnificent Riflebird

Magnificent Riflebird

Magnificent Riflebird

Magnificent Riflebird

An evenings spotlighting produced some great results. Five Marbled Frogmouth, several Large-tailed Nightjar and the iconic Green Tree Python. 

Marbled Frogmouth

Interestingly this Green Tree Python was set up in his hunting stance about 8 metres above ground level. By the size of the bulge in its body it must have been recently successful in finding a meal.

Green Tree Python

We spent our last two nights in Portland House at Portland Roads. Here we explored the mangrove edges for Torresian Kingfisher and Fawn-breasted Bowerbird. We also witnessed the magnificent Metallic Starling murmuration at Chilli Beach

Bower of the Fawn-breasted Bowerbird

Below are images of some of the birds we found in the area including a very confiding Yellow-billed Kingfisher.

Tawny-breasted Honeyeater

White-eared Monarch

Rufous Fantail

Yellow-billed Kingfisher

Yellow-billed Kingfisher

On our return trip we again passed the tree where we observed the large group of Eclectus Parrots and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. It seems that the Cockatoo may have won the day as they where the only birds in evidence. 

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

We encountered a lot of road kill between Coen and Musgrave Road House with many raptors enjoing a free lunch. This Wedge-tailed Eagle was one of many we saw along with Whistling and Black Kite.

Wedge-tailed Eagle

On our last day our route took us through Lakefield National Park. We stopped briefly to view the nesting Red-Goshawk from an appropriate distance. With the strong winds in the area we hope the same fate as the chick blown from the nest last year does not repeat its self.

Red Goshawk

We had really rewarding views of the Red-headed Honeyeaters on Marina Plains with a most confiding male providing everyone with great photo opportunities.

Red-headed Honeyeater

Red-headed Honeyeater

Red-headed Honeyeater

Red-headed Honeyeater

Nifold Planes was also good to us with a large flock of Black-throated Finch interspersed with several Masked Finch cumming in to drink in the middle of the day.

Masked Finch

Black-throated Finch

Several water holes also contained a few Brolga which were also good to see. The male and female in this trio below where where performing a little dance for us.

Brolga

We left Lakefield and proceeded onward through Laura with a brief stop to view the rock Quinkan rock paintings, arriving back in Mossman by 6 pm. A most enjoyable trip!