Avifauna of the Adelbert Mountains, New Guinea: why is Fire-maned Bowerbird Sericulus bakeri the mountains’ only endemic bird species?
Author
Diamond, Jared
Author
Bishop, K. David
text
Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club
2021
2021-03-09
141
1
75
108
journal article
299726
10.25226/bboc.v141i1.2021.a8
7017e380-8cb6-45cd-827d-bafef651a69e
2513-9894
12733989
6D2353AF-B244-409B-AF02-944A06062AE
BLACK-FRONTED
WHITE-EYE
Zosterops atrifrons
Common at Kangarangate down to
905 m
, and abundant at Munggur up to
1,645 m
. The Adelbert song is the ‘wheel song’ characteristic of the species elsewhere in New
Guinea
: aȱ descendingȱ seriesȱ ofȱ notesȱ likeȱ theȱ soundȱ ofȱ aȱ wheelȱ turning,ȱ terminatingȱ inȱ aȱ flourish.ȱ Because two or three
Zosterops
species
co-exist by elevational segregation on all other outliers except Van Rees, and because one
Zosterops
specimen collected in the Adelberts by W. Peckover was catalogued as
Z. novaeguineae
(very similar in plumage to
Z. atrifrons
, but veryȱ differentȱ inȱ song)ȱ beforeȱ beingȱ preparedȱ asȱ aȱ skeleton,ȱ weȱ paidȱ particularȱ attentionȱ to Adelbert white-eyes and their songs. All singing
Zosterops
that we encountered gave the ‘wheel song’ of
Z. atrifrons
.
Because we found
Z. atrifrons
abundant up to the highest elevations in the Adelberts, it seems unlikely that
Z. novaeguineae
or any other
Zosterops
species
could be present at high elevations along with
Z. atrifrons
.