Memorandum to:         The Director of Birds Australia

 

From:                           Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)

 

Date:                            9th February 2007

 

 

Voting Members:         Andrew Silcocks            Mike Carter

Glenn Holmes                John Hatch

                                    Tony Palliser                 Rohan Clarke

                                    Jamie Matthew              Danny Rogers

                       

Cc.                               Ron Johnstone, Walter Boles                 

 

 

 

Submission No 488: Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus, West Island, Cocos  (Keeling) 3rd May 2006. Submitted by: Richard Baxter.

 

 

Verdict: Accepted

 

This submission concerns the sighting of a Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola Bacchus on West Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands from 3rd to 7th May 2006. The bird was seen frequenting an area known locally as North Park Swamp and photographed by a number of observers and was considered to most likely be a first alternate female.

 

The submission relies heavily on photographic evidence and a brief description of the bird, although Mike Carter, who saw the bird and is a voting member of the committee, supplied a considerable amount of additional material including photographs. Unlike previous reports (see BARC Case No. 371), this bird was in alternate (breeding) plumage thus making a positive identification possible .

 

The bird was about half the size of  a Nankeen Night Heron and less robust. The bill was bright yellow with a dark tip with a bluish-green area of skin around the loral region; the legs were bright yellow and the iris pale . The head, neck and breast were predominantly rich-burgundy. The chin, throat and a streak extending the full length of the foreneck, were white. The mantle, back, and scapulars were a slaty black and this continued on to the central rump where it tapered to a point. The border of the richly coloured breast was also black varying in width from very narrow at the sides of the upper breast to quite broad at the centre of the lower breast. The remainder of the bird including the whole of the wings and tail above and below was white.

 

In this plumage the identification of the species is unmistakable (Hancock et al. 1984; Beaman & Madge 1998; Grimmett et al. 1998; Robson 2000). The dark, burgundy head and neck are diagnostic distinguishing the Chinese Pond Heron from its close relatives, Javan Pond Heron A. speciosa and Indian Pond Heron A. grayii. Consequently members voted unanimously in favour of acceptance.

 

This record is the first for Australia. Robson (2000) describes its status in South-East Asia as a scarce to local resident and an uncommon to common winter visitor. It seems likely that the arrival of this bird on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands was influenced by a monsoonal weather system that was active from 22 to 30 April 2006. Pond Herons have occurred twice before in Australia, both records being of non-breeding plumaged birds on Christmas Island (Johnstone & Darnell 2004). Since in that plumage identification beyond generic level is considered to be difficult or impossible in the field (Hancock et al. 1984; MacKinnon & Phillipps 1993), in neither case could the species be satisfactorily determined.

 

 

 

References and Bibliography:

 

·         Bartram, K., (1996), ‘Twitchers’ Corner’, Wingspan, 6(1), 15.

·         Beaman, M. & Madge, S. (1998), The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic, Princeton University Press, Princeton.

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

·         Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. & Inskipp, T. (1998), Birds of the Indian Subcontinent, Christopher Helm, London.

·         Hancock, J., Kushlan J., Gillmor, R. & Hayman, P.  (1984), The Herons Handbook, Croom Helm, Beckenham, Kent.

·         Hancock, J. (1999), Herons & Egrets of the World; a Photographic Journey, Academic, London.

·         Johnstone, R.E. & Darnell, J.C. (2004) Annotated Checklist of Christmas Island Birds. Appendix A in Johnstone R.E. & Storr, R.M., Handbook of Western Australian Birds, Vol. 2, Passerines, WA Museum, Perth, 439-476. 

·         Kanouchi, T., Abe, N. & Ueda, H. (1998), Wild Birds of Japan, Yama-Kei, Tokyo (in Japanese). Kirihara, M., Yamagata, N. & Yoshino, T. (2000), Japanese Bird 550: Waterbirds, Bunichi General Publisher, Tokyo (in Japanese).

·         MacKinnon, J. & Phillipps, K. (1993), A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

·         Marchant, S. & Higgins, P.J. (Eds) (1990), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds. Vol. 1, Ratites to Ducks, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

·         Mitchell, P. (1996), ‘Bird Reports Series 115’, The Bird Observer, No 762, 15.    

·         Robson, C. (2000), A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia, New Holland, London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tony Palliser

Chairman, Birds Australia Rarities Committee