Memorandum to:         The Director of Birds Australia

 

 

From:                           Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)

 

 

Date:                            27th December 2006

 

 

Voting Members:         Tony Palliser                 John Hatch

Rohan Clarke                 Danny Rogers

                                    Niven McCrie                 Jamie Matthew

                                    Glenn Holmes                Andrew Silcocks

 

cc:                               

 

 

Submission No 467: Island Monarch Monarcha cinerascens, West Island, Ashmore Reef, 28th October 2004.  Submitted by:  Mike Carter & George Swann.

 

 

Verdict:  Accepted

 

 

This submission refers to the observation of an Island Monarch Monarcha cinerascens on West Island, Ashmore Reef, off the northern coast of Western Australia on the morning of  28 October 2004. The bird was not seen on two thorough searches of the island the previous day and was not seen again despite searches that afternoon and next morning. So it’s visit was apparently very transitory.

 

As pointed out in the submission the only possible confusion species is immature Black-faced Monarch, from which it is distinguished by the lack of a prominent pale spot ahead of the eye (Coates 1990, Coates & Peckover 2001). This loral patch, which extends onto the cheek, is indicated but poorly illustrated in most Australian Field Guides (AFG) such as Simpson & Day, Slater, Pizzey & Knight and Morcombe. A further distinction is bill colour. Black-faced Monarch has a dark bill whereas this bird had a bill that was pale bluish grey, paler at the tip, and bright yellow at the sides towards the base of the bill and with a narrow black band adjacent to the forehead. In immature Black-faced Monarch the bill is dark, even blackish (Boles 1988, Coates 1990, Coates & Peckover 2001, AFG). Also the breast is more extensively grey than that of Black-faced Monarch of any age. It was suspected that the bird was a sub-adult or immature as it seemed to retain a juvenile tail with faint barring.

 

The photographs and notes confirmed the above features making this sighting a conclusive first for Australia and resulted in a unanimous vote of acceptance by the committee after two rounds of voting. Some concerns discussed following the first round were: (1) there is a possibility that a little too much is being made of the bill colour and its general paleness, as there is a possibility that this may be a feature of a little known race rather than just an age characteristic, (2) there is often a tendency for juveniles of other monarch species to look similar and (3) the extent of rufous on the sides of the breast approaches that of Black-faced Monarch

 

Island Monarch is a species specializing in colonizing small islands. The species ranges throughout Wallacea around the north of New Guinea east to the Solomon Islands (Coates 1990, Coates et al. 1997, Mayr & Diamond 2001). As might be expected of such a widespread, disjunct species there are several subspecies (Mayr & Diamond 2001) but their distribution and the characters that define them could not be ascertained.

 

There is only one previous report of a Monarcha in Western Australia, An immature male Black-faced Monarch collected by Ron Johnstone in the Kimberley (Johnstone 1991, Johnstone & Storr 2004). As a breeding species, Black-faced Monarchs are restricted to far eastern Australia over 2,000 km away, migrating north to PNG in winter.

 

 

 

References & Bibliography:

 

·         Beehler, B.M., Pratt, T.K. & Zimmerman, D.A. (1986), Birds of New Guinea, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

·         Coates, B.J. (1990), The Birds of Papua New Guinea, Vol. 2, Passerines, Dove, Alderley, Queensland.

·         Coates, B.J., Bishop, K.D. & Gardner, D. (1997), A Guide to the Birds of Wallacea, Dove, Alderley, Queensland.

·         Coates, B.J. & Peckover, W.S. (2001), Birds of New Guinea & the Bismarck Archipelago; A Photographic Guide, Dove, Alderley, Queensland.

·         Higgins, P.J., Peter, J.M. & Cowling, S.J. (Eds) (2006), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds, vol. 7, Part A, Boatbill to Larks, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

·         Johnstone, R.E. (1991), ‘A Black-faced Monarch Monarcha melanopsis (Vieillot) in Western Australia ’, Western Australian Naturalist 18, (6) 166.

·         Johnstone, R.E. & Storr, G.M. (2004), Handbook of Western Australian Birds, vol. 2, Western Australian Museum, Perth.

·         Mayr, E. & Diamond, J. (2001), The Birds of Northern Melanesia: Speciation, Ecology and Biogeography, Oxford University Press, New York.

·         Morcombe, M. (2004), Field Guide to Australian Birds. Complete Compact Edition, Steve Parish, Archerfield.

·         Pizzey, G. & Knight, F. (1997), Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, Angus&Robertson, Australia. Simpson, K. & Day, N. (1999), Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, Penguin, Australia.

 

Tony Palliser

Chairman, Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)