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Post by steve pryor on Mar 11, 2012 9:18:25 GMT
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Post by steve pryor on Mar 9, 2012 11:32:05 GMT
Not kienerii. Soaring flight wing profile (especially leading edge) looks wrong for Pernis (and extrapolating from the appearance of the split species celebensis the juvenile steerei probably does not have this sort of head-striping). As far as I can ascertain the juvenile underwing of limnaeetus is slightly different. Gamauf mentions that first-year pinskeri has a black mask from eye to cere, and the culottes have fine buffy striping (a few of which I can see on this bird).
I feel sure enough to give a "probable", in agreement with Des - probably first-year Nisaetus (philippensis) pinskeri.
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Post by steve pryor on Mar 9, 2012 10:59:25 GMT
Excellent shot in spite of the branch. Most shots I have seen were of birds skulking away into ground vegetation.
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Post by steve pryor on Mar 9, 2012 10:54:54 GMT
Great shots. Extremely rarely photographed in the Philippines. I looked in my DB and found only one other, a subadult from Luzon.
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Post by steve pryor on Mar 9, 2012 10:34:55 GMT
Ariel, How very curious. I was not aware that the female of certain races of formicivorus had that little red zone under the white of the throat. I checked some sources and the females of several races, including this one - striatipectus, have it. It is just the first time that I noticed it. Live and learn. Good shots.
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Post by steve pryor on Feb 15, 2012 10:28:31 GMT
From the comments made by Steve it appears that this could be a different kind of species which would make it very interesting. I was able to photograph the Black-naped Oriole in Bohol. I hope it will help Steve confirm his observation. Keep on shooting Neil & Mabuhay. An item I just read in the latest Birding Asia: " The Oriolus chinensis complexJonsson et al. (2010) reviewed the relationships of the orioles, remarking: "We did not sample all O. chinensis subspecies and therefore we can only state that O. chinensis populations in mainland Asia ( O. c. diffusus), the Philippines ( O. c. chinensis and O. c. melanistictus) and the Sunda Islands ( O. c. maculatus), which are represented in this study, are rather divergent according to DNA data and that species status for at least these three taxa must be considered." Observations: I will have to try and get a hold of the paper: " Jonnson, Bowie, Moyle, Irestedt, Christidis, Norman, & Fjeldsa (2010) Phylogeny and biogeography of Oriolidae (Aves: Passeriformes) . Ecography 33: 232-241." If I interpret correctly, according to the above, they subsume race suluensis within melanistictus. From my information, melanistictus ranges not in the Philippines, rather in the Talaud Is., but if they do subsume suluensis in melanistictus, then melanistictus would range in the Philippines. Nonetheless, none of this adds anything to the question of the gross morphological differences of race chinensis, and the other races, differently defined by different authorities, cf. yamamurae, suluensis. I guess I will have to try and find images of yamamurae, suluensis, and melanistictus, and have a look. It makes me wonder if the presence or absence, e.g., of yellow-tipped tertials may be considered a clinal feature.
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Post by steve pryor on Feb 15, 2012 10:03:02 GMT
I noticed in the photo that the place is fenced-in. Is it electrified? Is it to keep out Polar bears, Snow tigers, Snow Leopards, etc? Mostly to keep out the "hunters". In Italy they have a weird law that states that hunters can come into your property whenever they want unless it is fenced off, and I have domestic animals that I don't want them shooting. However, up in those trees there are also huge wild boar (they come down to the road at night), and also the rather large Crested Porcupine has to be kept separated from domestic animals. Several months ago I spent a couple of hours taking the spines out of the throat and chest of one of the neighbors' dogs (a Labrador). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brush_tailed_porcupine_Berlin_Zoo.jpg
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Post by steve pryor on Feb 14, 2012 16:50:07 GMT
...little distant from Rome actually.
We're still snowed in after two weeks. Soccer is now out in Italy, we are taking up Curling, and Ice Fishing...
I wonder how much a team of sled dogs would cost?
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Post by steve pryor on Feb 8, 2012 11:41:32 GMT
Neil, Nice photos of the Oriole. At first glance they seemed a bit strange. I am not used to seeing this much black extending down the nape. For those that are interested, the last Oriole photo shows a mixed pair (the male is half-hidden and in the foreground). Some now subsume the mindanao-ranging race yamamurae, into the nominate race chinensis. However, if I compare photos of the species from Luzon (certainly race chinensis) they differ from the Mindanao bird in a couple of small features, including the presence of yellow tips of the tertials. It makes me wonder if yamamurae from other locations of its reported range also lack yellow tertial tips. If so, then the race should probably not be subsumed with the nominate.
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Post by steve pryor on Jan 17, 2012 8:53:18 GMT
Hi Ramon, For me at least there just isn't enough. I would be just guessing.
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Post by steve pryor on Jan 16, 2012 12:19:47 GMT
Des, you are probably right. When I see something "accipiterish" in Phils that isn't an Accipiter, it is usually Butastur. In any case, not a Besra - not pug-nosed enough among other things. Not the more compact soloensis, which does have an evident tomial tooth here lacking. Not gularis for a lot of reasons. Forget trivirgatus.
One problem is that we can't judge the primary extension along the rectrices - it looks like they have been damaged - clipped? beaten against the enclosure?, in any case, they are not the length they should be. Weak, and partial mesial, already demonstrating the darker colored shaft streak of the coverts of the Butastur, clean upper mandible tomium (no tooth). Plumage-wise, it is not juvenile - certainly immature in transition - Butastur for me.
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Post by steve pryor on Jan 16, 2012 9:51:05 GMT
Will try and download the Accipiter and resize (they are too large on my monitor), and look at them along with Tonji's bird from Negros. Tonight if I can find the time.
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Post by steve pryor on Jan 16, 2012 9:33:55 GMT
Great series of shots. I must say, however, that is very difficult for me to see much juvenile in this bird. It makes me wonder how long the young are cared for, and what plumage they normally have when the parents drive them out of territory? It should be noted that virtually nothing is known of the breeding cycle, and parental care in this species. Perhaps the only indication that I can see denoting immaturity might be the color of the bill - bluish, and should be tan with a lighter tip in the full adult.
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Post by steve pryor on Jan 5, 2012 9:12:27 GMT
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Post by steve pryor on Jan 5, 2012 9:02:18 GMT
Hi Ramon, Pachycephala crissalis does not exist! Pachycephala albiventris crissalis does. Just a general note, when a bird species is described, and named, they generally do it on the collected type specimens of whoever first collected and named the nominate race (if there is more than one race). The description of the species is based on the morphology usually of the adult male, and this includes the coloration of the plumage. The description is based therefore generally on the morphological appearance of the adult male of the nominate race. Race crissalis, which this is, differs slightly in its description from the description of the nominate race. This particular bird does not appear to me to be a full adult. The crown and the upper tail are still too brown. It is true that the adult crissalis has a duller, less olive-green mantle, and is browner.
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Post by steve pryor on Jan 1, 2012 16:24:16 GMT
Included are all updates as of the New Years, Jan. 1, 2012 (our last year on earth if we can believe those misinterpreting Mayan culture) We gain another endemic with the association of Sabah-ranging race andrewsi to Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus - which takes it away from our Buff-spotted Flameback making it an endemic. We also gain back Cettia diphone canturians as a species, though now it is Horornis diphone canturians, after race canturians was again reassociated from Horornis (Cettia) borealis. All other former philippine Cettia are also moved into Horornis. The two former Philippine Bradypterus, are now moved into genus Locustella. Attachments:
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Post by steve pryor on Jan 1, 2012 9:41:30 GMT
Yes, Fred is right. You don't often see them in flight shots, but certainly Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis).
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Post by steve pryor on Dec 29, 2011 12:35:57 GMT
In a word, yes!
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Post by steve pryor on Dec 27, 2011 8:02:18 GMT
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Post by steve pryor on Dec 22, 2011 9:49:22 GMT
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790311003022I can't comment on the merits. I have not been able to get a hold of the paper. Proposes: R [c] cyaniceps – Blue-headed Fantail (incl pinicola, but two distinct populations don't match current ssp distributions) R [c] sauli – Tablas Fantail R [c] albiventris – Visayan Fantail R nigrocinnamomea – Black-and-cinnamon Fantail R superciliaris – Mindanao Blue Fantail (incl ssp apo) R samarensis – Visayan Blue Fantail
R [javanica] nigritorquis – Philippine Pied Fantail
There seems to be a worldwide bout of "splittitis" going on, and I am by instinct, and by reflex, a lumper rather than a PSC splitter. I need to see the genetics. Implicit in the thesis of the paper is the question, if Philippine Rhipidura is interpreted in this manner, then what about all of the rest of insular Rhipiduridae?
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