r'~~ BANDER'S AID~ · .' '.-, . ,.. '\ '.' >.' " A Guide to Ageing and Sexing Bush Birds By: Ken Rogers Annie Rogers Danny Rogers With Assistance from: Brett Lane Bruce Male For Australian Banders BANDER'S AID - ERRATUM ~p 67-68~ Clamorous Reed-warbler. In ~~ .. _ II Measurement" s~cti f aexlflq and ver~a _ L. ons, Dr "male" read "female" and vice :::t. Male~~ af-e generally lar'ger' than females. ! 1 National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry Rogers, Ken, 1939- , Bander's aid: a guide to ageing and sexing bush birds. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 1 86252 640 O. 1. Bird-banding - Australia. 2. Birds - Research ­ Australia. I. Rogers, Annie, 1938- II. Rogers, Oanny, 1966- . III. Title. I 598' .07' 2320994 , Copyright © Ken Rogers, Annie Rogers, Danny Rogers, 1986 Published by A. Rogers, Lot 17, Ninks Road, st Andrews, Victoria, Australia,3761 ,- CONTENTS PREFACE Page 1 FOREWORO by David Purchase 3 Chapter 1- INTROOUCTION 5 2. WHAT'S IN THE SPECIES OESCRIPTIONS 7 J. A NOTE ON TECHNIQUES 11 iI. CAUTIONS 23 5. SPECIES OESCRIPTIONS 25 r- Button-quails, Painted Button-quail 26 Native-hens Tasmanian Native-hen 26 Pigeons, Ooves Peaceful Dove 27 Brush Bronzewing 28 Crested Pigeon 29 Parrots Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo 29 Little Lorikeet 30 Green Rosella 31 Crimson Rosella 31 Eastern Rosella 32 Red-rumped Parrot 33 Turquoise Parrot 34 Cuckoos Brush Cuckoo 35 Fan-tailed Cuckoo 35 Black-eared Cuckoo 36 Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo 37 Shining Bronze-Cuckoo 38 Kingfishers Laughing Kookaburra 38 Sacred Kingfisher 39 ,. Bee-eaters Rainbow Bee-eater 40 f Old World Larks Skylark 41 Swallows, Martins Welcome Swallow 42 Tree Martin 42 Fairy Martin 43 Cuckoo-shrikes, etc Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike 44 White-winged Triller 44 Thrushes Blackbird 45 Song Thrush 47 Southern Scrub-robin 47 Robins Robins Identification Guide 48 Rose Robin 49 Pink Robin 49 Flame Robin 50 , Scarlet Robin 51 ,1 Red-capped Robin 52 Hooded Robin 53 Dusky Robin 54 Eastern Yellow Robin 55 Jacky Winter 56 Shrike-tits Crested Shrike-tit 56 Whistlers Olive Whistler 57 Gilbert's Whistler 58 Golden Whistler 59 Rufous Whistler 60 Shrike-thrushes, Grey Shrike-thrush 61 Other Flycatchers Crested Bellbird 62 Rufous Fantail 62 Grey Fantail 63 Willie Wagtail 64 Quail-thrushes Chestnut Quail-thrush 65 Babblers White-browed Babbler 66 Old World Warblers Clamorous Reed-Warbler 67 Rufous Song lark 68 Fairy-wrens Superb Fairy-wren 69 Variegated Fairy-wren 70 " 5. SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS (Continued) Scrubwrens, White-browed Scrubwren Page 71 Thornbills, etc Shy Hylacola 72 Speckled Warbler 73 Weebill 74 Western Gery~one 75 Brown Thornblll 75 Inland Thornbill 76 , Tasmanian Thornbill 77 BUff-rumped Thornbill 78 Yellow-rumped Thornbill 78 Yellow Thornbill 79 Striated Thornbill 79 Treecreepers White-throated Treecreeper 80 Red-browed Treecreeper 81 Brown Treecreeper 82 Honeyeaters Red Wattlebird 83 Yellow Wattlebird 84 Noisy Friarbird 85 Little Friarbird 86 Bell Miner 86 Noisy Miner 87 Yellow-faced Honeyeater 88 White-eared Honeyeater 89 Yellow-throated Honeyeater 90 Yellow-tufted Honeyeater 90 Purple-gaped Honeyeater 91 Yellow-plumed Honeyeater 92 Fuscous Honeyeater 93 White-plumed Honeyeater 94 Black-chinned Honeyeater 95 Strong-billed Honeyeater 96 Brown-headed Honeyeater 97 White-naped Honeyeater 97 Black-headed Honeyeater 98 Brown Honeyeater 99 Crescent Honeyeater 100 New Holland Honeyeater 101 White-cheeked Honeyeater 102 White-fronted Honeyeater 103 Eastern Spinebill 104 Flowerpeckers Mistletoebird 105 Pardalotes Spotted Pardalote 106 Striated Pardalote 107 White-eyes Silvereye 108 True Finches European Goldfinch 108 European Greenfinch 1D9 , Old lorld Sparrows House Sparrow 110 Tree Sparrow 111 Grass-finches, etc Red-browed Firetail 112 Diamond Firetail 112 Zebra Finch 113 Starlings Common Starling 115 Orioles Olive-backed Oriole 116 loodswallows White-browed Woodswallow 116 Dusky Woodswallow 117 Butcherbirds, Grey Butcherbird 118 Currawongs Black Currawong 118 Grey Currawong 119 APPENDICES A. Banding Scheme Age Codes 121 B. Statistical Notes 123 C. Moult 127 D. Site Locations 131 REFERENCES 133 ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF SCIENTIFIC NAMES 135 ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ENGLISH NAMES 137 PREFACE We have received help from many people in preparing Bander's Aid. Their advice has been welcomed and largely incorporated into the text. We must, however, take full responsibility for all the information given here. We realise that much remains to be learned about ageing and sexing Australian bush birds and their life cycles. We will be extremely pleased to receive any comment on this edition of Bander's Aid and to receive new information for inclusion in future editions. Please send any information to the authors, c/o Bander's Aid, Lot 17, Ninks Road, st Andrews, Victoria 3761. Ken Rogers Annie Rogers Danny Rogers Brett Lane Bruce Male st Andrews October, 1986 Page 1 Page 2 FOREWORD Bander's Aid is primarily a guide to methods that can be used to age and sex many of the bush birds that occur in Victoria as well as a few in Tasmania and western Australia. Other information gained from the study of birds in the hand, which although not directly related to ageing and sexing, is also presented. Bander's Aid will be of interest and value not only to bird banders throughout Australia but also to others who have an interest in the life cycles of Australian birds. The genesis of this book was the arrival in Australia in 1981 of Anthony Roberts on a twelve month study of microsurgery. He was . (and is) passionately interested in birds and bird banding, having held a British licence for many years. He was amazed at the shortage of published information available on ageing and sexing Australian bird species and soon started applying the experience and techniques used in the palearctic to Victorian birds. An·thony rapidly infected a number of Melbourne based ornithologists with his enthusiasm for ageing and sexing; included in this group were Ken, Annie, and Danny Rogers. The Rogers family had arrived in Australia shortly before Anthony. They had gained their interest and skills in ornithology and banding mainly in Iran. Ken's training in research was to prove of great value to the project. Shortly before Anthony left Australia, the idea of Bander's Aid, an ageing and sexing guide based on the study of live birds in the hand was conceived. Anthony spent his remaining time persuading the Rogers family to take on the project. This they did and were supported by many other banders, notably Brett Lane and Bruce Male. This book is the result of the labours of these people and represents many hours of dedicated work, both in the field collecting data and at home analysing it. The book also contains contributions from Tasmanian and Western Australian ornithologists. I would like to mention the pioneering work done by other banders in establishing methods by which Australian birds may be aged and sexed. Notable amongst these was John Disney of the Australian Museum in Sydney. From 1963, John, together with other banders, produced a series of articles which were pUblished in the Australian Bird Bander, and more recently Corella, under the title "Bird in the Hand". In 1974 many of these were brought together as a book with this title under the editorship of Bill Lane and pUblished by the Bird Banders Association of Australia (now the Australian Bird Study Association). The involvement I have had over the years with bird banders throughout Australia has shown me that there is a growing store of knowledge of the methods that can be used to age and sex Australian birds. Much of this knowledge is gathered under the aegis of the Australian Bird Banding Scheme. I hope that before much longer we shall see more comprehensive editions of this book with contributions from ornithologists from other parts of Australia. Let us not forget, however, the complexity of producing such editions. We are studying the birds of a continent and the methods used to age and sex a species in one part of the country may not be suitable in another. For example, within species that are widespread throughout Australia, individuals in the north are usually smaller than those in the south (Bergmann's rule). Plumage characters can also change, even over relatively short distances. On a European scale it is equivalent to documenting methods to age and sex birds in places as far apart as Oslo, Athens, Dublin, and Moscow. Our only advantages in Australia are that we are one country and speak the same language. Bander's Aid is an example of the important work that can be done by amateur ornithologists. It is also another major milestone in Australian ornithology. I am sure that it will be recognised as such for many years to come. David Purchase Canberra Page 3 Page 4 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background and Scope Knowiedge of the age and sex of the birds handled is essential to any study involving banded birds. Bander's Aid provides the bander with some of the information needed to age and sex birds. It is the first publication of this kind based on the study of live birds in the hand. The concept of Bander's Aid was first suggested in a series of meetings between Anthony Roberts, Richard Loyn, Allan Burbidge, Jeff Davies, and the authors in 1981 in which the coverage of such a guide was discussed. Bander's Aid is largely the record of the project that we set up following those meetings. We are conscious that the record is incomplete, both in species coverage and in detail. Dur hope is that, with this as the starting point, banders in Australia will work together to fill the many gaps in our knowledge and that subsequent editions of Bander's Aid will approach comprehensive coverage.