33 AUSTRALIAN FIELD ORNITHOLOGY 2004, 21 , 33- 36 A Red-capped (pectora/e) geelvinkianum on Saibai Island, Torres Strait,

PETER S. LANSLEY 4 Cairn Court, Frankston, Victoria 3199 (Email: [email protected])

Summary Details are presented of the first sighting in Australia of a Red-capped or Papuan Flowerpecker Dicaeum (pectora/e) geelvinkianum on Saibai Island in Torres Strait, . This record has been accepted by the Australia Rarities Committee (BARC case number 273).

Introduction A visit to Saibai Island in north-western Torres Strait from 16-19 July 1996 yielded 21 new to the island, including a Red-capped or Papuan Flowerpecker Dicaeum (pectora/e) geelvinkianum (Lansley 1997a). Saibai Island, Queensland, is located less than 10 km from the south coast of Papua . More frequent visits by birders to the islands of northern Torres Strait since the 1980s have led to several records of birds new for Australia and a better understanding of the composition of their bird populations (Draffan et al. 1983; O'Brien 1995; Carter et al. 1997; Lansley 1997a,b; Carter 1999). Notes on the occurrence of species new to these islands are therefore of interest.

The sighting A calling flowerpecker with a red cap and red chest was seen perched on the edge of mangroves near the western end of Saibai Island cemetery (at 9°22'S, 142°38'E) between 0750 and 0800 h on 19 July 1996. It was identified as an adult male Red-capped Flowerpecker. On the previous day a bird was seen at about 0825 h on precisely the same perch and was flushed by Torresian Crows Corvus orru after a minute of observation. It was almost certainly a Red-capped Flowerpecker. On 19 July, two were calling, while chasing each other around the tree-tops. The male bird was seen and identified with binoculars and a telescope. At 0840 h a male Red-capped Flowerpecker, possibly the same male, was viewed with binoculars in a -clad vine thicket 250 m east of the original sighting. This bird was seen in almost ideal conditions when perched atop the mangroves and in the vine thicket. The diagnostic red cap, chest, and underside lacking a dark mid-belly stripe, together with plain grey undertail­ coverts, were seen in good light.

Description General impression and shape: Small, somewhat dumpy bird with a short, square­ ended tail and a rather short but not particularly fine bill. Size estimated to be slightly smaller than Yellow-bellied Nectarinia jugularis seen nearby. Shape, flight and behaviour closely resembled other Dicaeum flowerpeckers. Plumage: Generally dull-plumaged with the exception of a bright-red cap, throat and chest. Red throat-patch was seen to extend most of the way up to, but not AUSTRALIAN 34 LANSLEY FIELD ORNITHOLOGY including, the chin, which was dirty white. Ear-coverts and area surrounding eye (face), grey. Breast to lower belly, light grey. No dark mid-belly (ventral) stripe. Undertail grey. Dorsal surface, except crown, was not seen as clearly. Upperparts appeared dark grey, especially on the wings. Rump not seen. Bare parts. Eyes dark,. probably black. Colour of bill and legs not noted . Calls: Typical flowerpecker calls: a high-pitched, two-noted pi-pii, second note higher-pitched than first. One call was higher-pitched than those of the Dicaeum hintndinaceum.

Identification The bright-red cap and chest-patch, and the belly lacking both bright colours and a dark, mid-ventral stripe, are characters which in combination are diagnostic of Red-capped Flowerpecker. The bird also called like a typical flowerpecker, Dicaeum. Of the 38 species of Dicaeum flowerpeckers (Sibley & Monroe 1990), only the male Louisiade Flowerpecker D. nitidum is similar to the Red­ capped, but it has a dull red cap and much darker olive-green underparts; it occurs on islands off eastern New Guinea (Salomonsen 1960). Male Crimson­ crowned D. nehrkorni and Black-fronted D. igniferum Flowerpeckers also have a red cap and chest and have belly and undertail-coverts lacking bright colours, but they possess a dark mid-ventral stripe (MacKinnon & Phillipps 1993, Coates & Bishop 1997). The latter are also endemic to Sulawesi and the Lesser Sunda Islands in eastern (White & Bruce 1986, Coates & Bishop 1997). Two flowerpeckers (Scarlet-breasted P. thoracicus and Crimson-breasted P. percussus) have a red cap and chest, but both have a bright-yellow belly (MacKinnon & Phillipps 1993: plate 85), whereas the Saibai Island bird had a plain greyish belly. Olive-crowned Flowerpecker Dicaeum (pectorale) pectorale can be ruled out by its olive crown (Salomonsen 1960). There are no species with which confusion may arise.

In most respects the Saibai Island bird conformed to descriptions or illustrations of the Red-capped Flowerpecker in Salomonsen (1960), Beehler et al. (1986), and Coates (1990). The underparts lacked the yellowish wash on the belly seen in some , e.g. D.g. rubrocoronatum. The main exception was the colour of the dorsum, which appeared dark grey. Salomonsen (1960) gave this as glossy dark blue; Beehler et al. (1986) stated that it varies, but approaches black in south-eastern New Guinea; Coates (1990) stated that it tends to violet in Trans-Fly (Fly River region) populations. The dorsal colouration varies significantly within the D. pectorale superspecies (Beehler et al. 1986: plate 43) and even within subspecies. For example, in D.g. rubrocoronatum it varies from olive to blue-black (Salomonsen 1960). This is the most widespread form in eastern New Guinea north of the Trans-Fly.

I have had extensive field experience with the Mistletoebird and its calls in Australia since 1976 and observed this species two days later on Thursday Island, where its salmon-pink undertail-coverts were prominent, unlike the Saibai Island bird. Although I have not previously seen the Red-capped Flowerpecker, I have observed over a dozen species of flowerpeckers in South-East Asia, mostly in Indonesia. The Saibai Island bird was one of two subspecies: D.g. ntbrigulare or D.g. albopunctatum, or perhaps intermediate between them (see Discussion). VOL. 21 (1) Red-capped Flowerpecker MARCH2004 on Saibai Island, Torres Strait 35

Discussion The Red-capped Flowerpecker is the most likely flowerpecker species to occur in the area. No other flowerpecker has been recorded on mainland eastern New Guinea (Salomonsen 1960) and the Mistletoebird does not occur north of southern Torres Strait (Draffan et al. 1983, Beehler et al. 1986), apart from extralimital subspecies on Kai, Tanimbar and the Aru Islands, Indonesia, none of which has a red cap (Salomonsen 1961, Coates & Bishop 1997). Since Saibai Island is part of the Papuan, rather than the Australian, biogeographical subregion (Carteret al. 1998), it is logical to expect the Red-capped Flowerpecker to occur on Saibai and nearby islands such as Boigu and Dauan. This view is further supported by the presence of New Guinean subspecies of bird species shared by Australia and New Guinea (Storr 1984, Schodde & Mason 1999) and records or reports of New Guinean 'vagrants' on the islands of northern Torres Strait but not elsewhere in Australia (Carter 1999). From February to September 2002, three subsequent sightings of the Red-capped Flowerpecker were reported from Saibai Island (M.J. Carter, R.H. Clarke & T Palliser, pers. comm.).

Red-capped Flowerpecker Dicaeum geelvinkianum was considered separate from Olive-crowned Flowerpecker D. pectorale (in the narrowest sense) by Sibley & Monroe (1990, 1993), whereas both forms, along with the Louisiade Flowerpecker, are lumped into the broader Papuan Flowerpecker D. pectorale superspecies by all other recent authors (Beehler & Finch 1985, Beehler et al. 1986, Coates 1990, Coates & Peckover 2001 ). When I reported the initial sighting I used D. pectorale in the broader sense (Lansley 1997a), but current BARC procedure is that when a new bird is added to the Australian list, the of Sibley & Monroe (1990, 1993) is used.

Only two subspecies of the Red-capped Flowerpecker are known to occur in the southern Trans-Fly region, D.g. albopunctatum and D.g. rubrigulare (Salomonsen 1960). In common with several other subspecies of D. geelvinkianum, they have glossy steel-blue upperparts, blackish rectrices and remiges, and a red crown and rump. They have a black bill with a pale base, and dark eyes and legs. Their underparts are generally olive-greenish with a red chest­ patch. D.g. rubrigulare differs from other subspecies by its larger red chest-patch, the red being of a lighter and brighter hue. D.g. albopunctatum differs from D.g. rubrigulare in its paler underparts and still larger red chest-patch that extends to the chin (Salomonsen 1960). My description of plumage most closely resembles these two, mainly because of the larger extent of red on the chest than in other subspecies. Certainty is difficult, on two grounds. First, the location is near the south-easternmost point of the range given for subspecies D.g. albopunctatum, but also not far south of the range given for D.g. rub1igulare (Salomonsen 1960: map p. 25). Secondly, it appears that the Saibai Island bird may have been morphologically intermediate between these two, or perhaps approaching D.g. rubrigulare, because of the greater extent of red extending up the throat, almost but not quite to the chin. From the maps in Salomonsen (1960), the degree of overlap or intergradation between subspecies is unclear. Since the superspecies D. pectorale is a variable one, found throughout New Guinea almost wherever forest or woodland occurs (e.g. Coates 1990), it may transpire upon further research that birds recorded on Saibai Island form part of a hybrid zone between the two currently recognised subspecies occupying the southern Trans-Fly area. AUSTRALIAN 36 LANSLEY FIELD ORNITHOLOGY

Acknowledgements I extend thanks to the Saibai Island community, particularly Terry Waia (Chairman of the Council during my visit) for assisting me during my stay on Saibai. I thank Rory O'Brien and Sandra McKenzie (formerly with the Plumages section, Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds) for allowing me access to specimens at Museum Victoria and instructing me on how to measure them. I thank Alice Ewing for commenting on a draft of this paper and Mike Carter, Rohan Clarke and Tony Palliser for communicating subsequent flowerpecker sightings on Saibai Island.

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