VOL.18 (3) SEPTEMBER 1999 101 AUSTRAUAN BIRD WATCHER 1999, 18, 101-105 Blue Rock-Thrush Monticola solitarius: First Record for Australia

by MIKE CARTER1 and ROBERT SHAWl

1 30 Canadian Bay Road, Mt Eliza, Victoria 3930 -2 111 Noosa Drive, Noosa Heads, Queensland 4567

Summary This is an account of the first Australian record of the Blue Rock-Thrush Monticola solitarius, a male in first-winter plumage. The plumage was that of the far eastern form Ms. philippensis but the extent of blue on the vent, belly and flanks indicated intermediacy with the subspecies pandoo.

Introduction A Blue Rock-Thrush Monticola solitarius was reported at Noosa Heads, Queensland, from 26 October to 1 December 1997.1t was found by Robert Shaw, who closely monitored its presence and observed it on 15 occasions. Mike Carter watched and photographed the bird on 30 and 31 October. At least 50 other people saw the bird, some of whom passed on useful information regarding its behaviour and plumage. While reserving opinion on age and race, the Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC) unanimously accepted this as the first record of the species in Australia (Case 232, Tony Palliser in litt.).

Location, habitat and behaviour The Blue Rock-Thrush was most often seen at the twin headlands and cove of the Devil's Kitchen, an area of 2- 3 hectares in the Noosa Heads National Park. From there, it wandered along the cliffs and shores of the large bay to the south, and to the next headland at the northern end of Sunshine Beach, about half a kilometre away. Although favouring open areas, it seemed to avoid those with little shade. It frequented the steep, rocky cliff-faces, partly vegetated coastal slopes, rocky and stony beaches, exposed rock platforms (both smooth and encrusted with seaweed), sparsely foliaged, well-spaced trees (especially Allocasuarina) on the ridges, and dead trees, particularly those where only the main limbs remained. In the early morning, and again in the late afternoon, the bird often perched in exposed situations, but was also seen disappearing into dark gullies, caves and crevices. It was difficult to find during the middle of the day. Although the bird was sometimes rather tame, it did not tolerate persistent pursuit. It foraged by pouncing directly onto prey detected either from a perch or while hovering above ground-cover vegetation, and by aerial fly-catching. Observed prey included a large moth with a wingspan of 8 em (Neil Macumber pers. comm.) and other insects and their larvae, especially caterpillars, from 1 to 2.5 em long. It drank fresh water trickling down a rock-face. It was twice observed to harass a White-bellied Sea-Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster which cruised low along the cliff-top. It sallied from an exposed perch in a tree, and approached from below, but returned to the perch without striking the Eagle. It also dived from a cliff-face to flush a Wandering Tattler Heteroscelus incanus AUSTRALIAN 102 CARTER & SHAW BIRD WATCHER which was feeding along the tide-line on a rock slab. Although the bird sometimes remained perched and apparently motionless for several minutes (sometimes up to five minutes or longer), the tail was often flicked upwards while the head and body remained still. This movement was subtle, with the tip of the tail moving only about 1 em.

Description The bird is shown in Plate 26. Other photographs have been published in Carter (1998) and Lansley (1998). All of these photographs, and most of the more detailed aspects of this description, were obtained within the first five days of the bird's stay. During the following month, moult altered the appearance of the bird's head and underparts, as confirmed by other observers (C. Doughty and P. Lansley pers. comm.).

General In size and shape, it was mid way between a Common Myna Acridotheres tristis and a Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris. At close range it resembled a short­ tailed, long-legged Song Thrush Turdus philomelos. At a distance or in poor light, it appeared wholly dark, even blackish. On the ground, its gait was typically thrush­ like, but in flight, especially when sallying, it resembled a woodswallow Artamus. Triangular wings, a short flicking tail, the manner of flight and general coloration all contributed to this impression. In good light, the upperparts appeared mainly blue, with darker wings and tail. When viewed laterally, this blue was a greyish blue, reminiscent of a White­ browed Woodswallow A . superciliosus, but when viewed dorsally, it was bright and shiny, without the grey tone. The area from the front of the head down to the lower breast was dark grey-brown, flecked with pale blue and off-white; this was most pronounced on the breast, where off-white and blue-tinted chevrons at the tips of many feathers produced a scaled appearance. The sides of the breast and belly (from the bend of the wing to the upper flank), the undertail coverts and most of the underwing lining were rich chestnut. The lower flanks and thighs were bright blue but, initially (in late October), the lower belly and ventral area between and just behind the legs appeared duller and darker, and were thought to be dark blue; by the end of November, they were more obviously blue. A strip down the centre of the lower breast and belly was a mixture of dark grey, brown and chestnut, with pale scaling, similar to that on the upper breast. This strip was not noticed on 13 November (Chris Doughty and Tom Smith pers. comm.), so may have moulted out by then. When the bird was perched, the blue patch on the thigh and flank appeared continuous with the blue on the rump, but a photograph of the bird taking flight revealed that a narrow strip of chestnut on the upper flank divided these areas. The same photograph showed the underwing pattern: all visible secondary coverts were bright chestnut, the primary coverts were very dark, and the undersides of the remiges appeared pale and shiny.

More detailed description The blue of the upperparts was uniform, and extended from the back of the VOL.18 (3) · Blue Rock-Thrush: SEPTEMBER 1999 First Record for Australia 103

Blue Rock-Thrush at Noosa Heads, Queensland, 31 October 1997 Plate 26 Photo: Mike Carter crown, down the nape, mantle, back and rump to the uppertail coverts, and onto the lesser and median wing-coverts. The greater coverts were a similar colour to the primaries and secondaries which, although dark and dull, were not black, perhaps suggesting some wear. The tail was also dark, but was almost obscured by the coverts. There was a tiny, Petroica-robin-like pale spot on the forehead at the base of the culmen. Initially, the forecrown was much duller than the rear of the crown, because a mixture of brown tones dominated the blue; the ear-coverts, cheeks, lares, chin and throat were dark brown to grey, intermingled with some blue. By the end of the bird's stay, the blue was brighter and more extensive. A suggestion of dark, narrow lines from the base of the bill, through the lares, to the eyes may have been caused by shadow.

Bare parts Bill black and shiny; irides dark; toes mid-brown. The tarsi were probably brown, but were not well seen. AUSTRALIAN 104 CARTER & SHAW BIRD WATCHER

Voice Once, the call was noted as 'short cheeps between a melodious chirping, not unlike a House Sparrow Passerdomesticus'.

Identification No other bird has this combination of habits, shape and coloration, so identification as a male Blue Rock-Thrush was straightforward (Wild Bird Society of Japan 1982, Lekagul & Round 1991, MacKinnon & Phillipps 1993, Coates et al. 1997, Kanouchi et al. 1998) and is not disputed. However, BARC expressed reservations about our conclusions on age and race, and claimed that 'the age of the bird has proved difficult to ascertain'. We disagree and demonstrate that it was a first-winter bird. Although, when viewed dorsally, it resembled an adult, the lack of uniformity on the breast, especially the scalloping, clearly indicated immaturity. Parts of the head and belly also retained some juvenile plumage, while the remainder had completed moult to first-winter. When first seen, apart from the atypical racial characters discussed below, this bird's plumage was intermediate between a juvenile male in September and an adult male in May in Kanouchi et al. (1998). Both of these birds were Monticola splitarius philippensis, photographed in Japan. Our assessment is that, whereas the white tips on the feathers present on juveniles had already worn from the back and wings, they and other juvenile characters were retained on the head and breast. The alternative that it may have been an adult male moulting into winter plumage lacks credibility: adult Blue Rock-Thrushes do not have a winter plumage, but, like other Turdidae, moult once each year, and the plumage is relatively uniform in all seasons (Cramp 1988). After studying the photographs, Japanese experts confirmed that the bird at Noosa Heads was a first-winter male (Tadao Shimba pers. comm.). With respect to race, the chestnut underparts indicate that it was predominantly philippensis, but the blue on the vent and lower belly (apparently overlooked in the analysis by BARC), combined with the large area of blue on the flank above the thigh, fits the description of intermediates between subspecies philippensis andpandoo (Cramp 1988). Typical Ms. philippensis, from Japan and Taiwan in the eastern extremities of their range, have no blue on the belly and only a small patch on the thigh (Takano 1981, Taiwan Flying Feathers 1995, Kanouchi et al. 1998, Tadao Shimba pers. comm. ). David Eades (pers. comm.) advised that, judging from photographs, birds from Korea can have a larger area of blue on the flank. However, there is no suggestion that they are ever blue on the belly or vent.

Distribution Ms. philippensis is a north-south long-distance migrant which breeds in north­ eastern Asia, including Japan. The normal winter range includes the Philippines, Sulawesi and the Moluccas, south to about sos (Coates et al. 1997). Ms. pandoo breeds in central Asia and ' ... intermediates between philippensis and pandoo (with mixed blue and chestnut bellies) occur in south-west and southern China' (Cramp 1988). We therefore suggest that this bird originated in that region. Contrary to the statement by BARC, Ms. pandoo has been recorded in South­ East Asia. Both races occur as migrants in the Greater Sundas (MacKinnon & Phillipps 1993) and Hong Kong, where intermediate forms are also regularly seen (Viney & Phillipps 1989). VOL.18 (3) Blue Rock-Thrush: SEPTEMBER 1999 First Record for Australia. 105

There are two previous records of the Blue Rock-Thrush in the Australasian region. A male philippensis, said to be an adult (although the description suggests a first-winter bird), was recorded at Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, from 7-19 January 1986 (Hicks & Finch 1987, Coates 1990), and a female, therefore of unknown race and age, was seen at Manokwari, Irian Jaya, on 11 January 1994 (Gregory et al. 1996). It may be more than coincidental that North America's first Blue Rock-Thrush appeared just a few months earlier than this Australian record. One was photographed in the Fraser River Gorge of British Columbia in June-July 1997 (Kaufman 1997).

Acknowledgements We are grateful to all those mentioned for sharing their information about this species and this bird in particular. We thank Danny Rogers and Roger Hicks for providing copies of relevant literature. Danny Rogers, Margaret Cameron and Tony Palliser commented on a draft of this paper, thus improving its content and readability.

References Carter, M. (1998), 'Blue Rock-Thrush Monticolasolitarius philippensis: first record for Australia', Bird Observer 782, 21. Coates, B.J. (1990), The Birds of Papua New Guinea, vol. 2, Dove, Alderley, Queensland. --, Bishop, K.D. & Gardner, D. (1997), A Guide to the Birds of Wallacea, Dove, Alderley, Queensland. Cramp, S. (1988), The Birds of the Western Palearctic, vol. 5, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Gregory, P., Burrows, I., Burrows, R. & Burrows, G. (1996), 'Blue Rock Thrush at Manokwari; a New Record for Irian Jaya', Kukila 8, 154. Hicks, R. & Finch, B.W. (1987), 'Blue Rock Thrush on Paga Hill, Port Moresby. First record for the Australian region east of the Moluccas', Muruk 2 (2), 66-67. Kanouchi, T., Abe, N. & Ueda, H. (1998), Wild Birds ofJapan, Yama-Kei, Tokyo. Kaufman, K. (1997)., 'Rare Bird Report', Birder's World 11 (6), 86. Lansley, P. (1998), Twitchers Corner', Wingspan 8 (1 ), 19. Lekagul, B. & Round, P.D. (1991 ),A Guide to the Birds of Thailand, Saha Karn Bhaet, Bangkok. MacKinnon, J. & Phillipps, K. (1993), A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Taiwan Flying Feathers (1995), Universal Diary of Birds of Taiwan, Taiwan Flying Feathers, Taichung, Taiwan. Takano, S. (Ed) (1981 ), Birds ofJapan in Photographs, Takai University Press, Tokyo. Viney, C. & Ph1llipps, k . (1989), Birds of Hong Kong, Government Publications, Hong Kong. Wild Bird Society of Japan (1982), A Field Guide to the Birds of Japan, Wild Bird Society of Japan, Tokyo. Received 31 March 1999 •