Berlepsch’s Six-Wired Bird of Paradise (1 Viewer)

Consider me weeping from every orifice

ce

Thank God I can read a bit of French ,drooling on the keyboard at the moment...

I dont understand French at all but all these new photos is good enough for me

This is just a reaction to an article on the Foya expedition I received yesterday. It is published in "World Birdwatch", the magazine of Birdlife International. Nothing new as far as info is concerned. Still the same mistakes: "A new species of honeyeater is the first new bird species to be discovered in New Guinea in over 60 years". "The bird (Yellow-fronted Gardnerbird) was not seen in the wild until 1981". "They also found a new large mammal for Indonesia, the Golden-mantled Tree Kangaroo...". It's sad that even editors of a splendid magazine as this one seem unable to get their facts straight.
Anyway, the article features another stunning photograph of the Berlepsch's parotia from the same series as the one from the ornithomedia site. It shows a male in the so called "sideways facing display". Standing on a branch on high, outstretched legs, wing pulled sideways to show the white flank feathers and a big, beady eye to contrast with the dark loral feathering. Quite conventional for the species, that's to say Parotia carolae. Except for one important detail. The Berlepsch's parotia male holds a large tuft of lichen in his bill during this display. This is unique. It is known that males of Lawes' parotia bring in objects to drop on their courts for females to collect but an object is never used in display itself. I don't know if this behaviour is an indication of its taxonomical status but the article mentioned that Conservation International (of which Beehler is vice-president of the Melanesian Center) and others treat it as a seperate species. We will see.

To keep up the morale.

"I think 3-4 new subspecies of birds may be found among the new records for the Foya Mts (a rail, a Melidectes honeyeater, a lorikeet etc.).

There remain some other bird mysteries that make us excited to get back: getting a close look at the Sericulus bowerbird that lives in the foothills there; having a close look at all the birds inhabiting the summit; having a closer look at the bird fauna at 1000 m elevation ...

I think the next people who do bird surveys there will have some pleasant surprises ... " Bruce Beehler on the Conservation International site.

There's been succes next door as well. Ten years ago another expedition went to the Bewani Mountains and found a new species of Pheasant Pigeon and two other new subspecies of birds. Descriptions and even a book are in preparation.

Finally, an article in which Berlepsch's Parotia is determined as a full species is also on its way.

Hidde Bruinsma said:

Ten years ago another expedition went to the Bewani Mountains and found a new species of Pheasant Pigeon...

Click to expand...

Now that's something I'd like to hear more about in case anybody has any information. The Pheasant Pigeon is possibly the most striking member of the family and any additions to that genus would be amazing.

Rasmus,

All I know is a title:

Engilis, Jr.A and T.K. Pratt In prep. "Revision of the genus Otidiphaps, including a new species from the North Coastal Range of New Guinea"
Intended for Emu or Ibis.

Hidde Bruinsma said:

To keep up the morale.

"I think 3-4 new subspecies of birds may be found among the new records for the Foya Mts (a rail, a Melidectes honeyeater, a lorikeet etc.).

There remain some other bird mysteries that make us excited to get back: getting a close look at the Sericulus bowerbird that lives in the foothills there; having a close look at all the birds inhabiting the summit; having a closer look at the bird fauna at 1000 m elevation ...

I think the next people who do bird surveys there will have some pleasant surprises ... " Bruce Beehler on the Conservation International site.

There's been succes next door as well. Ten years ago another expedition went to the Bewani Mountains and found a new species of Pheasant Pigeon and two other new subspecies of birds. Descriptions and even a book are in preparation.

Finally, an article in which Berlepsch's Parotia is determined as a full species is also on its way.

Click to expand...

Very intresting, look forward to a publication.

Some bits and bobs I've gathered over the last few weeks.
First of all, there won't be a follow-up expedition to the Foya Range this autumn. It's been postponed to September 2007.
In a former post I mentioned an article in the making on the taxonomical status of the Parotia. This is still in the initial stages. It will be (co-)written by a number of people. When and where it will be published is too soon to tell.
What I've recently noticed (and not before) is the fact that the adult Berlepsch's Parotia has pale blue eyes (iris) with a yellowish outer ring. Remarkable, since all the black Parotia's also have blue eyes in various shades with a pale outer ring but Carola's has pure yellow eyes. Males of Lawes' Parotia are said to be able to change the colour of their eyes from almost completely blue to almost completely yellow. All in all, Berlepsch's seems to be an intermediate taxon between the Carola's (with all its races) and the black Parotia's. However, within the scope of this "chalcothorax" needs to be revisited because,as said before, this race of Carola's comes close to the Foya bird in morphology and distribution.
The description of the new Melipotes will appear in The Auk. Anyone subscribed to that journal can look out for it next year.
Maybe the article will also deal with the relationship between this genus and Macgregoria. Cracraft and Feinstein in their "What is not a Bird of Paradise? Molecular and morphological evidence place Macgregoria in the Meliphagidae ..." state that Macgregoria is the sister taxon of Melipotes. At least to them the similarity between these birds goes further than skin deep.
The "all mouth" Aegotheles is determined as "albertisi" on several sites:
http://www.ornithomedia.com/infos/breves/breves_art1_11.htm
http://www.animal.aol.discovery.com/news/afp/20060206/lostworldslide_04.html
http://www.neofronteras.com/?p=448
Finally, I've found another photo of a male Ambliornis on his bower:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june06/lostworld_3-10.html
You can see it best in the streaming video.

Edwin Scholes has published a great article on the display of the Carola's Six-wired BoP in the October 2006 issue of The Auk. There are also some videos of this on the following site (and further links given):
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/paradise
Finally, Scholes has also put up a wonderful site on Birds of Paradise:
http://www.thebirdsofparadise.org
It's something to see.

Hidde Bruinsma said:

Edwin Scholes has published a great article on the display of the Carola's Six-wired BoP in the October 2006 issue of The Auk. There are also some videos of this on the following site (and further links given):
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/paradise
Finally, Scholes has also put up a wonderful site on Birds of Paradise:
http://www.thebirdsofparadise.org
It's something to see.

Click to expand...

Hi Hidde,

Scholes new site is really great, thanks for linking, wasent aware of this site!

Also looking forward to his further articles on the Parotia genus.

A recent article on the Foya expedition here:

http://www.nwf.org/nationalwildlife/article.cfm?issueID=112&articleID=1414

Nothing new as far as info is concerned but it shows a great photo of a male Amblyornis at work on his bower that I had not seen before.

First bits of news from the latest Foya expedition last June. Nothing much yet on the ornithological side but some great mammal findings:
http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1216-foja.html

See the whole story, including the birds, in the most amazing footage:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3624186n

Well, that doesn't work. Go to:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml
and click on "Video: Garden of Eden".

Oh, I see, it does work. Sorry !

That was great! Thanks for providing the link.
Allen

Yes, excellent....thanks for the link.

Ken