Memorandum to: The Director of Birds Australia

From: Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)

Date: 1^st March 2007

Voting Members: Tony Palliser Glenn Holmes

Jamie Matthew Danny Rogers

John Hatch Andrew Silcocks

Mike Carter Rohan Clarke

cc: David Stewart

Submission No: 503 Long-tailed Koel Eudynamys taitensis; Nr Cairns, QLD. 11^th April 2000

Verdict: Not Accepted

This case concerns the sighting of a Long-tailed Koel E. taitensis approximately 15km north west of Cairns, QLD on the 11^th April 2000. It was observed for several minutes at close range.

The bird was described within the submission “as large but slim with a very long tail, white below and light-brown to mid-brown above & heavily streaked”, The submission emphasises the presence of a distinctive light-brown stripe running through the eye and as the observer correctly points out this is diagnostic.

Committee members agreed that this bird may well have been a Long-tailed Koel but felt that the description was far too brief for Australia’s first mainland record. A record of this magnitude would require additional corroboration such as a photographs or notes from multiple observers.

It was suggested that the bird may have blown on to the mainland during cyclone Tessi which hit land near Townsville on the 3rd April.and cyclone Vaughan which followed a parallel path 4 days later north of Cairns.

Selected Bibliography:

• Coates, B.J. & Bishop, K.D. 1997. A Guide to the Birds of Wallacea. Dove Publications, Brisbane.
• del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. 1997. Handbook to the Birds of the World. Vol. 4. Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
• Payne, R.B. 2005. The Cuckoos. Bird Families of the World. OUP, Oxford.

Tony Palliser

Chairman, Birds Australia Rarities Committee