On a visit to Manus in May 1989, Claret-breasted Fruit-Doves Ptilinopus viridis were noted on two occasions. As this species had not previously been recorded from Manus (Coates 1985) details of these observations are presented here.
On the evening of 11 May 1989, while bird watching c. 3 km outside Lorengau on the Trans-Island Highway, a pair of Claret-breasted Fruit-Doves were observed for nearly 20 minutes while they fed and sat in an unidentified fruiting tree, in the company of a pair of Cicadabirds Coracina tenuirostris, Black-headed White-Eyes Zosterops hypoxantha and a Singing Starling Aplonis cantoroides. The fruit-doves were in view nearly the whole time and I watched them using 10x binoculars from a distance of less than 30 m. The following notes were made: both birds were mainly "fruit-dove" green with a broad, triangular shaped (apex uppermost) claret patch extending from the throat onto the breast. The head was greyer than the body and the undertail coverts were off-white. I did not note the colour of bill nor any markings on the inner wing. This breast patch was smaller on the presumed female, but was not a small crescentic mark as in the northern New Guinea race salvadorii, suggesting these are birds of one of the eastern races vicinus or lewisii. The second observation on 12 May 1989, c. 10 km from Lorengau along the Trans-Island Highway was brief, but long enough to identify the species. Other fruit-doves were seen but not identified. I have previously seen Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove once, on Bougainville in June 1986.
The Superb Fruit-Dove P. superbus, with which I am familiar from the Port Moresby area and the Yellow-bibbed Fruit-Dove P. solomonensis, which I have seen once on Bougainville, have both been recorded on Manus. I identified neither during my stay on Manus, but do not think either could be mistaken for a Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove.
In PNG the Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove has a disjointed range, being found along the north coast of New Guinea east to Madang, in the D'Entrecasteaux islands (Goodenough, Fergusson and Normanby) and the North Solomon Islands (Nissan, Buka and Bougainville) (Coates 1985). In the Bismarck archipelago it is known only from Lihir Island, north of New Ireland (Coates 1985, Burrows 1987). Manus lies c. 250 km north of Madang and c. 600 km west of Lihir, so this observation represents a considerable range extension for this species.
Burrows, I. 1987. Some notes on the Birds of Lihir. Muruk 2: 40-42.
Coates, B.J. 1985. The Birds of Papua New Guinea. Vol 1. Dove Publications.
On the evening of 11 May 1989, while bird watching c. 3 km outside Lorengau on the Trans-Island Highway, a pair of Claret-breasted Fruit-Doves were observed for nearly 20 minutes while they fed and sat in an unidentified fruiting tree, in the company of a pair of Cicadabirds Coracina tenuirostris, Black-headed White-Eyes Zosterops hypoxantha and a Singing Starling Aplonis cantoroides. The fruit-doves were in view nearly the whole time and I watched them using 10x binoculars from a distance of less than 30 m. The following notes were made: both birds were mainly "fruit-dove" green with a broad, triangular shaped (apex uppermost) claret patch extending from the throat onto the breast. The head was greyer than the body and the undertail coverts were off-white. I did not note the colour of bill nor any markings on the inner wing. This breast patch was smaller on the presumed female, but was not a small crescentic mark as in the northern New Guinea race salvadorii, suggesting these are birds of one of the eastern races vicinus or lewisii. The second observation on 12 May 1989, c. 10 km from Lorengau along the Trans-Island Highway was brief, but long enough to identify the species. Other fruit-doves were seen but not identified. I have previously seen Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove once, on Bougainville in June 1986.
The Superb Fruit-Dove P. superbus, with which I am familiar from the Port Moresby area and the Yellow-bibbed Fruit-Dove P. solomonensis, which I have seen once on Bougainville, have both been recorded on Manus. I identified neither during my stay on Manus, but do not think either could be mistaken for a Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove.
In PNG the Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove has a disjointed range, being found along the north coast of New Guinea east to Madang, in the D'Entrecasteaux islands (Goodenough, Fergusson and Normanby) and the North Solomon Islands (Nissan, Buka and Bougainville) (Coates 1985). In the Bismarck archipelago it is known only from Lihir Island, north of New Ireland (Coates 1985, Burrows 1987). Manus lies c. 250 km north of Madang and c. 600 km west of Lihir, so this observation represents a considerable range extension for this species.
Burrows, I. 1987. Some notes on the Birds of Lihir. Muruk 2: 40-42.
Coates, B.J. 1985. The Birds of Papua New Guinea. Vol 1. Dove Publications.
Originally published in MURUK 5(2):85.
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