Submission No 259: Narcissus Flycatcher Ficedula carcissina; Barrow Island, WA, 26th November - 20th December 1995. Observers Peter Diog & Stephan Fritz.

Verdict: Accepted

A submission that relates to the publication of a Narcissus Flycatcher in Wingspan (June 1996). The account describes the initial sightings of two birds between 26 and 28 November 1995 that were roosting in wattle-spinifex scrub near the main accommodation facility at Western Australia Petroleum (WAPET) complex on Barrow Island, WA. A solitary bird of the same description was subsequently seen at the same complex some 5 km from the initial sighting on 20 December 1995.

As the birds were located by WAPET staff it is understandable that little material is available in the way of a formal description, despite this the photographs provide a relatively straightforward case and simple identification. The combination of black upperparts and white underbody with vivid yellow supercilium, rump, chin, throat and foreneck (the latter two areas with characteristic brighter orange wash) and a narrow white line across the inner secondary-coverts being diagnostic of first immature and adult males of the nominate subspecies F.n. narcissina.

The question of subspecies is important because Inskipp et al (1996) state that, as there are clear morphological and vocal differences between the black-backed nominate narcissina and the olive-backed subspecies elisae, these taxa are probably separate species (though they are currently treated as conspecific in the standard literature referenced below). Close study of the photo reveals the bird has the cap and mantle, black as narcissina and not olive as in elisae. The difference in upperparts colour can be seen by comparing the illustration of elisae in Lekagul and Round (1991) with that of narcissina in the Field Giude to the Birds of Japan, while the photo of the Barrow I. bird compares very closely with those of Japanese narcissina in Kanouche et al (1998) as well as with the illustrations in the Japanese Field Guide. A third subspecies, F. n. owstoni of the southern Is. of Japan is easily ruled out by its olivey upperparts (similar to elisae); see Brazil (1991) and photos in Kanouche et al.

The published account mentions that two males were seen during the initial sightings on 26 and 28 November, but that only one bird was reported some 5 km from the original site on 20 December, when it was photographed. This second sighting came shortly after several days of strong winds and rain curtesy of Cyclone Frank, but no mention is made of any associated weather events for the initial November sightings. From these data it seems possible that the December bird may well have been a third newly arrived vagrant rather than one of the original pair. But this is of course just speculation and we will never know for sure, so it seems safer to assume that only two birds were involved.

According to King et al (1975) nominate narcissina breeds in ne. Asia and migrates to se. China, Hainan, Taiwan, Borneo and the Phillipines. In SE Asia, the subspecies elisae has been recorded from N. Malaya once, and from peninsula Thailand twice, while nominate narcissina is listed only for central Annam and Hong Kong, yet the species is listed by Andrew (1992) as occurring in Indonesia only on Kalimantan; and is not recorded from either Sumatra (Van Marle & Voous 1988) or Wallacea (White & Bruce 1986). Kanouche et al (1998) map the species as overwintering in southern Thailand and the Malay Peninsula, on Kalimantan, and in the Phillipines, but not from farther south in the Lesser Sundas. Thus it is perhaps surprising that the species has now been recorded from nw. Australia. However, Danny Rogers tells me that according to a British-made video on the Birds of Beidehai (e. coast of China), Narcissus Flycatcher has been recorded from Alaska a few times, which indicates it does have long-distance vagrancy potential. Combine this with a timely cyclone during southward migration and it then seems much less improbable for a genuine vagrant of the species to find its way by natural means to north-western Australia during late spring/early summer as is the case here.

The committee accepts this bird as a first immature or adult male Narcissus Flycatcher of the subspecies narcissina. Adding yet another new bird to the Australian list.

References and Bibliography

• Andrew, P. 1992. The Birds of Indonesia: A Checklist (Peters’ Sequence). Indonesian Ornithological Society. Jakarta.
• Brazil, M. 1991. The Birds of Japan. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington D.C.
• Inskipp, T. et al. 1996. An Annotated Checklist of the Birds of the Oriental Region. Oriental Bird Club. Bedfordshire. UK.
• Kanouche, T. et al. 1998. Wild Birds of Japan. Yama-Kei Publishers Co., Ltd. Tokyo.
• King, B. et al. 1975. A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia. Collins. London.
• La Touche, J.D.D. 1930. A Handbook of the Birds of Eastern China. Volume 1. Taylor and Francis, London.
• Lekagul, B. and P. Round. 1991. A Guide to the Birds of Thailand. Saha Karn Nhaet Co., Ltd. Bangkok.
• Van Marle, J.G. & K.H. Voous. 1988. The Birds of Sumatra. An Annotated Checklist. B.O.U Checklist No. 10. British Ornoithologists Union. Tring, UK.
• Wild Bird Soc. of Japan. 1982. A Field Guide to the Birds of Japan. Wild Bird Society of Japan. Tokyo.
• White, C.M.N. & M.D. Bruce. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea: An Annotated Checklist. B.O.U. Checklist No. 7. British Ornoithologists Union. Tring, UK.

Tony Palliser
Chairman Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)