Yellow-breasted Sunbird Nectarinia jugularis bathing in dew

At 06:30 on 21 September 1990, at Matirogo Point, Port Moresby (National Capital District), a female Yellow-bellied Sunbird Nectarinia jugularis was observed bathing in the dew that had collected along the outer edge of a banana leaf. When first seen she was perched on the rib in the centre of the leaf. After a short while she slid, with wings spread but drooping at the tips, towards the edge of the leaf. The posture of the sunbird was similar to that adopted by some birds, e.g., Eurasian Jay Garrulus glandarius when anting. When the sunbird reached the dew at the edge of the leaf, she tried to maintain her position by scrabbling with her feet and flapping with her wings. This also splashed the drops of water, but was only successful for a few seconds. She then dropped off the banana leaf and flew to another where she landed for a brief preen of her body and wing feathers. The whole process was repeated three times before she flew off. By 07:20 all the dew had evaporated.

Originally published in MURUK 5(2):93.

Brahminy Kite Haliastur indus Fishing?

Since January 1990 I have regularly recorded an adult and immature Brahminy Kite Haliastur indus on my Town Bird Survey site at Matirogo Point, Port Moresby (National Capital District). Over this time the immature has been slowly attaining its adult plumage and now only has some flecks of white in the rufous of the upper wing. North of Matirogo Point, a stream flows into a small, unnamed bay and at low tide flows across the exposed mudflats. At 11:05 on 17 September 1990, when the tide was half out, these two Brahminy Kites were seen bathing in the stream. They stood within two feet of each other, in water that was almost belly-deep. After about 5 minutes, the immature flew c. 10 m to a rock, on which it perched. The adult remained in the water and began, apparently, to fish. It waded c. 30 m through the shallows of the stream, stopping frequently. During the stops it occasionally stabbed at something on or in the water. It made a total six stabs in seven minutes. Each stab seemed to be successful, although the distance from my vantage point to the bird, c. 150 m, was too great for the prey to be discernible. The stabbing action it used for "fishing" was of too short a duration for the bird to have been drinking. After seven minutes wading the adult Brahminy Kite flew and landed near the immature. The immature took off immediately, circled the bay and then was joined by the adult.

Rand & Gilliard (1967) recorded one Brahminy Kite that had eaten many small fish, but considered they may have been carrion. Coates (1985) reports that Brahminy Kites are expert at snatching fish from just below the surface, but there are no PNG records of Brahminy Kites fishing in the manner described above.

Coates, B.J. 1985. The Birds of Papua New Guinea. Vol 1. Dove Publications.
Rand, A.L. & E.T. Gilliard. 1967. The Handbook of New Guinea Birds. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

PNGBS OUTING TO LEA LEA AND IARAGUMA - 9th SEPTEMBER 1990

Six cars containing eleven PNGBS members and friends gathered at the Baruni turn-off for a run out to Lake Iaraguma and Lea Lea, some 60 km north-west of Port Moresby. While waiting for late-comers a Large-tailed Nightjar was heard calling. Our first stop at a patch of gallery forest by the road produced about 20 species including good views of White-throated Gerygone and a pair of amorous White-winged Trillers. We then continued across the Fairfax Grasslands, seeing Cattle Egrets, all in non-breeding plumage, Singing Bushlarks and a female-plumaged Australian Kestrel. This is the first record of the latter for more than two years.

Our next stop was Lake Iaraguma. Last time I visited the Lake (Jan '90) it was heavily overgrown with Salvinia, an introduced weed, but this appeared to be dying out as more than half the lake was open water. There were not many waterbirds or waders, either here or at Lake Bunu. Of interest were a pair of Brown-backed Honeyeaters which were nest building in a bush on the shore of the lake. Both these birds had neat plum-coloured throats, a feature not mentioned in any guides. The site was revisited a week later, when both birds appeared to have "normal" plumage. It is now assumed the colouring was some type of staining, either from the eucalypts where the birds had been seen collecting bark for their nest building or from some unidentified food source.

From Lake Iaraguma we headed for the end of the road at Lea Lea, en route stopping at Papa where there is a high-tide wader roost amongst the mangroves. This early in the season there were relatively few birds - c. 25 Grey-tailed Tattlers, 3 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, 1 Whimbrel and 1 Masked Lapwing. We did have good views of a Glossy-mantled Manucode as it perched in the top of a mangrove tree and a pair of Yellow-bellied Sunbirds were nest building. Our normal wader-watching site at Lea Lea was inaccessible as the village of Lea Lea has moved to the south side of the mouth of Rea Rea Creek because the village site north of the mouth is being eroded. It was also high tide, about two hours earlier than that advertised for Port Moresby. So we headed home having recorded 63 species.

Australasian Grebe/ Great Frigatebird/ Lesser Frigatebird/ Little Black Cormorant/ Little Pied Cormorant/ Darter/ Great Egret/ Pied Heron/ Intermediate Egret/ Cattle Egret/ Little Egret/ Whistling Kite/ Brahminy Kite/ Collared Sparrowhawk/ Australian Kestrel/ Pacific Black Duck/ Common Scrubfowl (h)/ Dusky Moorhen/ Purple Swamphen/ Comb-crested Jacana/ Masked Lapwing/ Whimbrel/ Grey-tailed Tattler/ Sharp-tailed Sandpiper/ Gull-billed Tern/ Peaceful Dove/ Bar-shouldered Dove/ Orange-bellied Fruit-Dove/ Pied Imperial Pigeon/ Rainbow Lorikeet/ Red-cheeked Parrot/ Brush Cuckoo (h)/ Pheasant Coucal/ Large-tailed Nightjar (h)/ Blue-winged Kookaburra/ Sacred Kingfisher/ Rainbow Bee-eater/ Singing Bushlark/ Pacific Swallow/ Tree Martin/ White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike/ Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike/ White-winged Triller/ Golden-headed Cisticola/ White-throated Gerygone/ Willie Wagtail/ Jacky Winter/ Lemon-bellied Flycatcher/ Grey Shrike-Thrush/ Papuan Flowerpecker/ Yellow-bellied Sunbird/ Graceful Meliphaga/ Yellow-tinted Honeyeater/ White-throated Honeyeater/ Helmeted Friarbird/ Brown-backed Honeyeater/ Rufous-banded Honeyeater/ Grey-headed Mannikin/ Figbird/ White-breasted Wood-Swallow/ Black-backed Butcherbird/ Fawn-breasted Bowerbird/ Glossy-mantled Manucode/ Torresian Crow : 63 Species

Originally published in PNGBS Newsletter 261: 2-3.

Nesting Brown-backed Honeyeater Ramsayornis modestus with strange plumage

On 9 September 1990 we were bird-wataching at Lake Iaraguma at about 08:30 under overcast conditions. Jeff Chemnick observed a pair of honeyeater-myzomela tupe birds with brown backs, white vertical ear markings and plum-red facial markings (throat and possibly forehead). The birds were actively foraging in the crown and braches of a Eucalyptus tree. They were seen to collect bark and make repeated trips to another nearby site, presumably nest building. Wahlberg and Hicks identified the birds as Brown-backed Honetyeaters Ramsayornis modestus but were surprised by the facial colouration – a feature previously unrecorded. We feel that this colouration was a natural feature of the bird, as it did not look staining. No source of staining could be found in the immediate vicinity, e.g. flowers or fruit. The extent and intensity of the colouration was similar to that of a female Mountain Red-headed Myzomela Myzomela adolphinae. The nest under construction by this pair of birds was subsequently located and photographed. It was typical of the Brown-backed Honeyeater; a metre off the ground located close to the water’s edge. It was penduline in shape and was composed mostly of Eucalyptus bark.

First published in Muruk 6(1): 45 co-authored with J.Chemnick and N.Wahlberg