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Dispersal, Mimicry, and Geographic Variation in Northern Melanesian Birds1

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Dispersal, Mimicry, and Geographic Variation in Northern Melanesian Birds1 Dispersal, Mimicry, and Geographic Variation in Northern Melanesian Birds1 Jared Diamond2 Abstract: I present new information about 34 of the 195 resident land and freshwater bird species of Northern Melanesia, an area characterized by a rich avifauna, high endemism, and great geographic variation in morphology. There are many examples of geographic variation in voice, behavior, habitat prefer­ ence, altitudinal range, vertical stratum, abundance, and nest. Possible vocal convergence or mimicry between sympatric populations of different species is described between the goshawk Accipiter albogularis and the kingfisher Halcyon chloris, between the cuckoo-shrike Coracina [tenuirostris] and other species in its mixed-species foraging flocks, between the white-eyes Zosterops murphyi and Z. rendovae kulambang;rae, and between the starlings Aplonis g;randis and Mino dumontii. Hybridization is reported between the Bismarck and New Guinea races of the cuckoo Eudynamys scolopacea on Long Island (described as a new subspecies), between the whistlers Pachycephala pectoralis and P. melanura, and between the honey-eaters Myzomela tristrami and M. cardinalis. Cyclones bring Australian species, some of which occasionally remain to breed. Over-water dispersal ability varies greatly, from species that can be seen flying over water any day to species that rarely or never cross water. For instance, a channel 12 km long and only 0.15-1 km wide divides Florida Island into two halves, one of which possesses and the other ofwhich lacks a resident population of the coucal Centropus milo. NORTHERN MELANESIA comprises the hun­ Northern Melanesian avifauna includes many dreds ofislands of the Bismarck and Solomon little-known endemic populations (five en­ Archipelagoes east of New Guinea. Its rich demic genera, 30 endemic full species or su­ avifauna, their intensively studied distribu­ perspecies, 102 endemic allospecies, and 380 tions and taxonomy, the marked geographic endemic subspecies). Rampant ongoing de­ variation in morphology of conspecific pop­ forestation of Northern Melanesia makes it ulations among different islands, and the urgent to study this treasure trove of diversity existence of bird species representing many before much of it disappears. different stages in the speciation process have Between 1969 and 1976 I made four all combined to make Northern Melanesian expeditions to Northern Melanesia: 27 June­ birds ideal material for studying speciation 24 July 1969, West New Britain; 23 June­ (Mayr 1942 and many papers). However, little 1 September 1972, Umboi and Long and has been reported about geographic variation neighboring islands, and Bougainville; 18 in ecology, behavior, and vocalizations. The August-31 October 1974 and 5 September­ 15 October 1976, almost all ornithologically significant Solomon islands (except Buka, 1 Manuscript accepted 10 May 200l. Ysabel, Malaita, Ulawa, Ramos, Gower, and 2 Physiology Department, University of California the remote outliers), plus 94 small islets in Medical School, Los Angeles, California 90095-1751 (fax: and near Wana Wana Lagoon of the New 310-206-5661; E-mail: [email protected]). Georgia group. Previous publications have described the avifaunas of Rennell and Bel­ Pacific Science (2002), vol. 56, no. 1:1-22 lona (Diamond 1984), vocalizations of the © 2002 by University of Hawai'i Press. white-eye superspecies Zosterops [g;riseotinctus] All rights reserved (Diamond 1998), character displacement in 2 PACIFIC SCIENCE· January 2002 myzomelid honey-eaters (Diamond et al. SPECIES ACCOUNTS 1989), community assembly (Diamond 197Sa), selected species of Bougainville (Diamond 3. Australian Pelican, Pelecanus conspicillatus. 1975b) and West New Britain (Diamond Two sightings in Wana Wana Lagoon: one 1971, 1972) and Umboi and nearby islands soaring high on 16 September 1976, and one (Diamond 1974, 1976), species/area/distance resting on a sandbar on the following day. relations (Diamond and Mayr 1976, Dia­ Local people said that one or two pelicans mond et al. 1976, Gilpin and Diamond 1976, had been present for several weeks, and 1981), the montane avifauna (Mayr and Dia­ that cyclones (especially the cyclone of 1952) mond 1976), and two new taxa (Diamond occasionally brought small numbers, all of 1989a, 1991). which eventually died out or departed. I re­ In this paper I report significant field ceived such reports from 11 Solomon islands observations and distributional records­ (Ganonga, Gatukai, Honiavasa, Kulamban­ especially ones involving endemic popula­ gra, Mono, New Georgia, Pavuvu, Rendova, tions and/or concerning geographic variation, Roviana, Vella Lavella, Wana Wana), with vocalizations, overwater dispersal, and hy­ the earliest remembered arrival being around bridization. I also mention two records based 1918. There are several previous reports of on unreported specimens that I found in mu­ windblown pelicans reaching Northern Mel­ seums. anesia (e.g., Bradley and Wolff 1956, Cain Taxonomy and distributions are based on a and Galbraith 1956, Hadden 1981). comprehensive, just-published account of the 4. Little Pied Cormorant, Phalacrocorax Northern Melanesian avifauna by Mayr and melanoleucos. Previously known to be resident Diamond (2001), hence information in that on six of the larger Northern Melanesian is­ book is not repeated in this paper. To facili­ lands. In addition, Teu Zinghite told me that tate finding such information, I cite each res­ the species had been resident on the Kukundu ident species by its number used in Appendix River of Kulambangra during the 1960s and 1 of that book. To facilitate use of the that he had found a young bird not yet able taxonomic literature on Northern Melanesian to fly. Residents of Ganonga, Gatukai, New birds, most ofwhich predates 1960, the island Georgia, and Wana Wana reported several names and spellings used here and in that dozen as having been brought by the cyclone book are those then in use, differing in nine of 1952. cases from modern names and spellings 8. Great Egret, Ardea alba. Residents of (the older Florida, Ganonga, Gatukai, Gizo, numerous islands of the New Georgia group Gower, Kulambangra, New Hanover, San reported this heron to me as appearing or Cristobal, and Tetipari rather than the cur­ increasing in numbers after cyclones, and also rent Nggela, Ranongga, Nggatokae, Ghizo, sometimes resident on exposed reefs, beaches, Ndai, Kolombangara, Lavongai, Makira, and and mudflats, and along rivers. Tetepare, respectively). I frequently cite in­ 12. Sacred Ibis, Threskiornis moluccus. Pre­ formation provided by island residents (es­ viously known in Northern Melanesia only as pecially Teu Zinghite of Kulambangra and an endemic resident race on Rennell and Alisasa Bisili ofNew Georgia), many ofwhom Bellona. Residents of Mono told me in 1974 proved to be walking encyclopedias of field that a pair of this species arrived around the information. For example, Mr. Zinghite had same time as the cyclone-blown pelicans of discovered nests, reared nestlings, and re­ 1952 and had been resident since then, but corded diets, seasonal movements, and over­ that one ofthe pair disappeared around 1973, water dispersal frequencies of most bird leaving a single survivor. The description species of Kulambangra. On all islands I was of a slender tall bird similar to the "so" quizzed older men to obtain local-language (Mono name for Eastern Reef Egret, Egretta species names, according to methods de­ sacra) but taller, with a long, curved black bill, scribed elsewhere (Diamond 1966, 1989b,cj black head and tail, and white body. Diamond and Bishop 1999). 25. Pied Goshawk, Accipiter albogularis. Dispersal, Mimicry, and Geographic Variation in Northern Melanesian Birds . Diamond 3 An interesting range extension for this wide­ Museum of Natural History, mention on p. spread hawk is Borokna, an isolated, small, 226 of volume V that the Whitney collector steep extinct volcanic island halfway between Hannibal Hamlin observed one individual of Guadalcanal and the New Georgia group and this species in the canebrakes of a mountain 59 km from the next island. A pair was resi­ creek on Choiseul sometime between Sep­ dent and calling frequently during my visit on tember and November 1929. Second, among 7-9 September 1974. the 42 bird species that residents of Sasa­ This goshawk is involved in a remarkable monga Village on Choiseul described to me vocal convergence or mimicry with the Col­ or identified with me in the field in 1974 was lared Kingfisher, Halcyon chloris. In the New one named the "ki," described as follows: Georgia and Bukida groups the common call similar to, but a different species from, the of both species is a moderately high-pitched "peyonga" (= Bush-hen, Amaurornis oliva­ nasal two-note or three-note element with a ceus); unmarked dark body; bill about 4 cm forced quality, repeated several times at the long; lives on the ground; calls "ki-ki-ki-ki­ rate of one per second. Each element consists . ..."; runs very quickly; and either does not fly of an upslur, followed by either one or two at all or else flies along the ground if pursued notes at lower pitch. Other New Georgia and by dogs. Bukida calls ofA. albogularis are a rapid series 54. Yellow-bibbed Fruit-Dove, Ptilinopus of 17-50 high-pitched nasal notes delivered solomonensis. This fruit-dove's ecological rela­ at about five per second, rising and then lev7 tions with congeners vary among islands. In eling off in pitch, and still with a quality very the Solomons on high islands of the New like the call of Halcyon chloris; a slower series, Georgia group (Kulambangra, Rendova, lasting 3 sec, of about five high-pitched up­ Vangunu, Gatukai, Vella Lavella) I found it slurs; and a series of 5-10 nasal notes deliv­ from 400 m up to the summits, not in the ered as if the voice were cracking. The San lowlands. At middle elevations it coexisted Cristobal races of both A. albogularis and H. with Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove, P. viridis, chloris lack the first-named of these calls (the and Superb Fruit-Dove, P. superbus, but lived one with the repeated two- or three-note alone at higher elevations above the altitudi­ element).
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