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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
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. An armchair split, no less.
For some it allows you to enjoy the marvel of nature, for others it allows you to tick the many amazing species of fish and sea life that is down there (even the occasional vagrant). Diving has taken me to places like Belize, Fiji, Vanuatu, and Egypt, places that coincidentally are fun to bird. Kina, or Sea Urchin.
I’ve subsequently managed to dive in some spectacular destinations, including Turneffe Atoll in Belize, the Great Astrolabe Reef in Fiji, the kelp forests of Monterey and the wreck of the President Coolidge in Vanuatu. Also present off the wall were the large predatory Kingfish.
There were also Collared Lories , not only a species endemic to Fiji but a genus, as well as Polynesian Trillers , Collared Kingfishers and Pacific Swallows. The species replaces the common Wattled Honeyeater that can be found across the rest of Fiji’s islands, as well as the rest of Polynesia.
Frigatebirds (Fregatidae) Five species of frigatebird ply the planet’s tropical skies and seas. Ringer Cormorants and Shags (Phalacrocoracidae) Cormorants are more speciose than other families in the order; 30-40 species range widely on every continent and many islands.
The closest I came to exploring a cave was diving in a wreck in Vanuatu a few years ago, and while I found the experience nerve-wracking, a combination of sheer fascination and nitrogen narcosis (the effect while diving of compressed nitrogen acting like alcohol – particularly to the decision making processes) kept me sane.
Exactly which species came from that original break up is the subject of considerable debate. Tane Mahuta, Lord of the Forest, is a Kauri and possible Gondwanan relic species. The aforementioned Kauri in turn used these islands to reach places like Vanuatu. Kiwi, oddly, are actually thought to have flow here too.
There are simply no middle gears for this species. I’ve been told its one of the hardest species to photograph here, so I am quite proud! While Australian birds migrate to New Guinea, New Zealand birds migrate to the Bismark Archipelago and the Solomon Islands (there are also resident populations in New Caledonia and Vanuatu).
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.
The world of birding is filled with challenging groups well known to all, birds like gulls , Empidonax flycatchers or cisticolas that require attention to the tiniest details in order to assign an individual to a specific species (if it can be done at all). Above we have an example of the species. Subspecies humii , Thailand.
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