10,000 Birds
JUNE 8, 2011
How many species there were is probably lost to history, but there were certainly many hundreds. Sadly, as I’ve explained before , most of these species became extinct as humans arrived on the islands, and with it one of the most astonishing radiations of birds imaginable. But here’s the thing. It didn’t used to be.
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 27, 2014
So, on seeing my lifer Bassian Thrush in Sydney, I was glad to have a) finally seen that species and b) finally glad to tick that arbitrary odometer up to a meaningless milestone. We seem to live in an age of splitting, only last week it was announced that another 460 odd species have been split. Photo from ‘Eua, Tonga.
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10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 7, 2014
One of these clades holds a diversity of Old World species in several distinct groups, including an Australasian clade, the green-pigeons, the emerald- and wood-doves, the imperial-pigeons and fruit-doves (favorites of mine), and the subjects of our investigation today, the 15 known members of the Raphini. ” Beehler et al.’s
10,000 Birds
MARCH 2, 2011
Fluttering Shearwater ( Puffinus gavia ) Flesh-footed Shearwater ( Puffinus carneipes ) Buller’s Shearwater ( Puffinus bulleri ) Along with these three were Two further species, also both familiar to North American birders, Sooty Shearwaters and Short-tailed Shearwaters. It is also restricted as a breeder to the north of North Island.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 30, 2011
In addition to this tight clustering of related parakeets, the genus also had two species in the far-flung Society Islands (now in French Polynesia). These species, recorded by early European explorers, are now sadly extinct, but the disjunct distribution is something of a mystery. of the Yellow-crowned Parakeet.
10,000 Birds
JUNE 15, 2011
I mentioned last week, while talking about rails and the Pacific, that Tonga is not a particularly birdy birding destination. Tonga is still a fun place to visit, particularly if you’re a poor PhD student anxious to escape the Austral winter. Further down the coast Grey Noddies and Brown Boobies nest on the cliffs.
10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
All the way back in 2011 I wrote about the confusing taxanomic enigma that is the Collared Kingfisher , a species that ranges from the Red Sea to Tonga in a bewildering variety of forms. I’m happy to report that an analysis of the species and some relatives has found that, as suspected, it isn’t a single species.
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