The traveling Najade is traveling - WA? Why Not?

Quick update:

Past trips this year:
March '19: Victoria
July '19: Kimberley and Top End
+some small local birding day-trips


In October I'll embark on my last big trip (about two months) before heading home via Indonesia. (Will start a thread for advice for that in the next couple of days.)
Port Hedland - Perth:
9 days exploring north (Cue/Shark Bay) as well as hopefully picking up the handful of birds I'm still missing from the southern area (esp. Baudin's) and Western Quoll.
Perth - Alice Springs:
Three days on my own before joining a three week tour (Alice - Coober Pedy - Uluru - Darwin) followed by another two days by myself.
Darwin - Hobart:
My first time to Tassie and one week to find it all. Should be interesting though I'll probably give Melaleuca a miss as flights are ridiculously overpriced.
Hobart - Adelaide:
Mallee birding, Rock-wallaby and Wombat. Not sure about the rest. Will see if time and money allows for anything further afield. Kangaroo Island suffers from a severe case of overpricing as well (I really shouldn't be surprised. I'm in Australia after all...) so pretty sure I will give that a miss too.
I'm pondering options to go up or down the east coast after (why did Eungella have to be on fire last time?:(), but I'm not sure there's much of a point in looking for Bennett's Tks again without a reliable location or Mountain Pygmies if their population is low atm). Maybe I should leave something for the future. We'll see.

I'm hoping to break the 600 in birds, the 100 in marsupials (the 160 in mammals overall), the 200 in reptiles and maybe even the 60 in frogs by the end of the trip :fingerscrossed:. I think that should be a good effort for two years.


I probably won't be writing any more reports anytime soon, but if anyone is interested in info for a specific location or species (s. year lists) feel free to ask here or in a PM.
 
Just read up on the whole thread, fascinating stuff :)

Sounds like you either don’t sleep or are on a reverse-light scheme, sleeping during the day :p

Thanks for posting!
 
jwer said:
Just read up on the whole thread, fascinating stuff :)
Click to expand...
I try^^
(There's more where that came from here, here and here. ;))

Sounds like you either don’t sleep or are on a reverse-light scheme, sleeping during the day :p
Click to expand...
I usually try to go for option two but most of the time it's too hot to sleep in the car during the day so I end up doing option one and crashing hard once I get back home.^^
 
As my two years are now officially up I'm gonna do a final tally.

Based on The Australian Bird Guide by Peter Menkhorst et al. and listing only species with distribution maps therein; with newer splits, vagrants, other additional species as +x in []

Birds
Casuariiformes
Cassowaries (1/1)
Emus (1/1)

Anseriformes
Magpie Goose (1/1)
Ducks, Geese, Swans (21/21)

Galliformes
Megapodes (3/3)
Guineafowl (-/-) [+1 Helmeted Guineafowl (no distribution map)]
Pheasants, Fowl and allies (3/3)

Sphenisciformes
Penguins (1/1)

Procellariiformes
Austral Storm-petrels (3/5)
Albatrosses (7/13)
Petrels, Shearwaters (8/36) [+1 Grey-faced Petrel (split from Great-winged Petrel)]
Northern Storm-petrels (0/2)
Diving-petrels (0/1)

Podicipediformes
Grebes (3/3)

Phaethontiformes
Tropicbirds (0/2)

Ciconiiformes
Storks (1/1)

Pelecaniformes
Ibises, Spoonbills (5/5)
Herons, Bitterns (13/14)
Pelicans (1/1)

Suliformes
Frigatebirds (2/2)
Gannets, Boobies (2/4)
Cormorants, Shags (5/5)
Darters (1/1)

Accipitriformes
Ospreys (1/1)
Kites, Hawks, Eagles (16/17)

Otidiformes
Bustards (1/1)

Gruiformes
Rails, Crakes, Coots (13/14)
Cranes (2/2)

Charadriiformes
Button-quails (3/7)
Stone-curlews (2/2)
Oystercatchers (2/2)
Stilts, Avocets (3/3)
Plovers (12/13)
Painted-snipes (1/1)
Jacanas (1/1)
Plains-wanderer (1/1)
Sandpipers, Snipes (21/28)
Pratincoles, Coursers (2/2)
Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (13/23) [+2 Aleutian Tern and if splitting Common/Australian Gull-billed Tern]
Skuas, Jaegers (2/5)

Columbiformes
Pigeons, Doves (24/25)

Cuculiformes
Cuckoos (11/12)

Strigiformes
Barn Owls (5/5)
Owls (3/5)

Caprimulgiformes
Frogmouths (3/3)
Nightjars (2/3)

Apodiformes
Owlet-nightjars (1/1)
Swifts (3/3)

Coraciiformes
Rollers (1/1)
Kingfishers (10/10)
Bee-eaters (1/1)

Falconiformes
Falcons, Caracaras (5/6)

Psittaciformes
Cockatoos (13/14)
Parrots (34/41)

Passeriformes
Pittas (2/3)
Lyrebirds (1/2)
Scrubbirds (2/2)
Bowerbirds (10/10) [+1 Black-eared Catbird (split from Spotted Catbird)]
Australasian Treecreepers (6/6)
Australasian Wrens (16/23) [+2 Purple-backed Fairy-wren (split from Variegated Fairy-wren) and if splitting Pilbara and Sandhill Grasswrens (from Striated Grasswren)]
Honeyeaters (72/75)
Bristlebirds (3/3)
Pardalotes (4/4)
Australasian Warblers (39/40) [+1 Spotted Scrubwren (split from White-browed Scrubwren)]
Australasian Babblers (3/4)
Logrunners (2/2)
Whipbirds, Quail-thrushes (8/11)
Boatbills (1/1)
Woodswallows, Butcherbirds and allies (15/15)
Cuckoo-shrikes, Trillers (7/7)
Sittellas (1/1)
Australo-Papuan Bellbirds (1/1)
Whistlers and allies (13/14) [+3 if splitting Crested Shrike-tit into northern, eastern and western and if splitting Little Shrike-thrush into Rufous & Arafura]
Figbirds, Orioles (3/3)
Drongos (1/1)
Fantails (6/6)
Monarchs (13/13)
Crows, Jays (5/5)
Australian Mudnesters (2/2)
Birds-of-paradise (4/4)
Australasian Robins (21/21) [+1 if splitting Kimberley Flyrobin from Lemon-bellied]
Larks (2/2)
Bulbuls (0/1)
Swallows, Martins (4/5)
Reed-warblers and allies (1/1)
Grassbirds and allies (5/5)
Cisticolas and allies (1/2)
White-eyes (2/3)
Starlings (3/3)
Thrushes (3/4)
Flowerpeckers (1/1)
Sunbirds (1/1)
Old World Sparrows (1/2)
Waxbills, Munias and allies (18/19)
Wagtails, Pipits (1/2)
Finches (1/2)

Total: (599/711) [+12]
 
Missed out on Albert's (saw every subspecies of Superb). I think I mentioned in the year list thread at the time how frustrated I was with the birding at Lamington/O'Reilly's. That was one of the reasons (+missing out on Marbled Frogmouth, generally slow going, etc).
 
based on wikipedia list

Amphibians
Bufonidae
Beaked Toads (1/1)

Hylidae
Water-holding Frogs (4/13)
Tree Frogs (25/65)
Big-eyed Tree Frogs (0/1)

Microhylidae
Nursery Frogs (1/5)
Rainforest Frogs (1/14)

Myobatrachidae
Tusked Frogs (1/1)
Sandhill Frogs (0/2)
Pouched Frogs (0/1)
Australian Froglets (5/15)
Ground Froglets (0/7)
Giant Burrowing Frogs (2/6)
Cannibal Frogs (0/1)
Australian Swamp Frogs (5/13)
Nicholl's Toadlets (0/1)
Barred Frogs (5/7)
Turtle Frogs (1/1)
Stubby Frogs (2/10)
Australian Spadefoot Toads (1/4)
Opisthodons (2/2)
Haswell's Froglets (0/1)
Mountain Frogs (0/6)
Toadlets (1/13)
Gastric Brooding Frogs (0/2)
Sunset Frogs (0/1)
Torrent Frogs (0/6)
Australian Toadlets (1/24)

Ranidae
True Frogs (1/1)

Total: (59/~224)
 
Based on the Field Companion to The Mammals of Australia by Steve van Dyck et al.; with newer splits, other additional species as +x in []

Mammals
Monotremata
Platypus (1/1)
Short-beaked Echidna (1/1)

Marsupials
Dasyurids (16/57)
Quolls (2/4)
Dibbler (0/1)
Pseudantechinuses (2/6)
Kowari (0/1)
Mulgaras (0/2)
Kaluta (1/1)
Tasmanian Devil (1/1)
Phascogales (2/3)
Antechinuses (5/11)
Planigales (0/4)
Ningauis (0/3)
Dunnarts (3/19)
Kultarr (0/1)
-----
Numbat (1/1)

Bandicoots (4/7) [+3 Western and Cape York Brown Bandicoot (split from Southern Brown Bandicoot) and Northern Long-nosed Bandicoot (split from now Southern Long-nosed Bandicoot)]
Bilbies (0/1)

Koala (1/1)
Wombats (3/3)
-----
Pygmy-possums (4/5)
Wrist-winged Gliders, Striped and Leadbeater's Possum (6/6) [+1 if splitting Savannah Glider (from Sugar Glider) which I'm not gonna count here, because there's no paper yet]
Ringtail Possums, Greater Glider (8/8) [+1 if Greater Glider split into northern, central (not seen), southern]
Honey Possum (1/1)
Feathertail Gliders (2/2)
Brushtail Possums, Cuscuses, Scaly-tailed Possum (6/6) [+2 if Coppery and Northern Brushtail split from Common Brushtail]
------
Macropodiformes (45/50) [+1]
Musky Rat-kangaroo (1/1)
Bettongs (4/5)
Potoroos (3/3)
Tree-kangaroos (1/2)
Hare-wallabies (1/2)
Wallabies, Kangaroos (13/13)
Nailtail-wallabies (2/2)
Rock-wallabies (15/16) [+1 Wilkins' Rock-wallaby (split from Short-eared Rock-wallaby)]
Pademelons (3/3)
Swamp Wallaby (1/1)
Quokka (1/1)
Banded Hare-wallaby (0/1)

Marsupial Moles (0/2)

Total: (99/152) [+7]
 
Placental Mammals
Shrews (0/1)

Megabats (9/12)
Ghost Bat (1/1)
Horseshoe Bats (1/2)
Leaf-nosed Bats (1/8)
Sheath-tailed Bats (2/8)
Free-tailed Bats (1/11)
Bent-winged Bats (1/4)
Vespertilionidae (8/38)

Rodents (16/57)

Dugong (1/1)

Eared Seals (3/5)
True Seals (0/5)
Dingo, Red Fox (2/2)
Cat (1/1)

Rabbits, Hares (2/2)

Donkey, Horse (2/2)

Pig (1/1)
One-humped Camel (1/1)
Horned Ruminants (3/4) [+1 if counting Feral Sheep]
Deer (4/6)

Southern Right Whale (1/1)
Pygmy Right Whale (0/1)
Rorquals, Humpback Whale (3/8)
Sperm Whale (0/1)
Pygmy and Dwarf Sperm Whale (0/2)
Beaked and Bottlenose Whales (0/12)
Ocean Dolphins (3/20)
Spectacled Porpoise (0/1)


Total: (67/218)
 
An extraordinary achievement
 
Does anyone have the Field Companion to The Mammals of Australia by Steve van Dyck lying around and can tell me what 12 megabats are listed in it. I'm working on my trip report, but only have 8 species right now. So not sure if I'm missing one or just miscounted before...
 
Wikipedia lists the following 12 species:
Bare-backed fruit bat (Dobsonia magna) - Far North Queensland
Northern blossom bat (Macroglossus minimus) - Northern Australia
Common blossom bat (Syconycteris australis) - Coastal Eastern Australia
Northern tube-nosed bat (Nyctimene cephalotes) - Moa Island in Torres Strait
Eastern tube-nosed bat (N. robinsoni) - East coast of Australia
Black flying fox (Pteropus alecto) - Northern Australia
Spectacled flying fox (P conspicillatus) - coastal Queensland
Large-eared flying fox (P macrotis) - Boigu Island in the Torres Strait
Black-eared flying fox (P natalis) - Christmas Island
Grey-headed flying fox (P poliocephalus) - East coast of Australia from Rockhampton to western Victoria
Little red flying fox (P scapulatus) - Northern and Eastern Australia
Apollo bat (P presseri)
 
I don't have van Dyck's book, but in Menkhorst they list the ones above minus "Apollo Bat Pteropus presseri" (which as far as I can tell does not exist except in that Wikipedia list) and the Christmas Island Flying Fox; but it also includes the Dusky Flying Fox Pteropus brunneus (known from only one specimen from 1874) and the Torresian Flying Fox Pteropus banakrisi which was described from Moa Island in 2002 but is now generally considered to be a synonym of P. alecto.
 
Yeah, I had a look at wikipedia too, but never heard of Apollo Bat. There seem to be a couple of species going around over there that seem rather new. Rock-wallabies have two more species too etc. All a bit dubious.

I already counted 9 megabats in this post back in May, so I had hoped that I didn't miscount twice. Weird...
 
Najade said:
There seem to be a couple of species going around over there that seem rather new. Rock-wallabies have two more species too etc. All a bit dubious.
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Those were named by Raymond Hoser - so, basically, you can ignore them.

The "paper" describing them is here: https://www.researchgate.net/public...lia_Australasian_Journal_of_Herpetology_4242-


I had a look at the history of that Wikipedia page, and the user who made the edit to include them - I think it is actually Raymond Hoser (!). I also found that he has named a tree kangaroo as well ("Dendrolagus hoserae") which is on the Wikipedia list. In both cases (rock wallabies and tree kangaroos) the names were removed because they are bunk, but the "vandalism" was reverted by this user.
 
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I looked into the guy too and he also "described" 6 new pygmy-possums, a potoroo, split rock-ringtails and a million herps based on other people's research. XD


I wouldn't be surprised if some of these splits became a thing in the future though . Northern Australia really needs more dedicated research.
If the rock-wallabies up there are anything like the east coast ones there might be heaps more DNA-based splits in our future. That's why I tried to look for them in lots of different locations back during my travels. I'll be really mad at myself for skipping Mitchell Falls if they ever split Monjons...
 
Yeah, one of the problems with Hoser's "taxonomic vandalism" is that (technically) if a species does become split his name would have priority as the earliest given even though it has no good basis behind it.

An associated problem is that of this being the internet age. In former times if someone like Hoser existed his work would be rightly ignored and forgotten. But nowadays everyone is an expert and stuff like this gets disseminated so quickly through sites like Wikipedia that it becomes "legitimate" simply through bulk.
 
Chlidonias said:
Yeah, one of the problems with Hoser's "taxonomic vandalism" is that (technically) if a species does become split his name would have priority as the earliest given even though it has no good basis behind it.

An associated problem is that of this being the internet age. In former times if someone like Hoser existed his work would be rightly ignored and forgotten. But nowadays everyone is an expert and stuff like this gets disseminated so quickly through sites like Wikipedia that it becomes "legitimate" simply through bulk.
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A friend has had a proposed split of a parrot subspecies named after him by colleagues. At the moment nobody expects the split to be recognised but if it ever is, this name will be adopted. Not a bad thing given my friend's contribution to conservation over his lifetime.
 
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Chlidonias said:
Yeah, one of the problems with Hoser's "taxonomic vandalism" is that (technically) if a species does become split his name would have priority as the earliest given even though it has no good basis behind it.

An associated problem is that of this being the internet age. In former times if someone like Hoser existed his work would be rightly ignored and forgotten. But nowadays everyone is an expert and stuff like this gets disseminated so quickly through sites like Wikipedia that it becomes "legitimate" simply through bulk.
Click to expand...

Wasn’t there a push to have all of Hoser’s names vacated on the basis that they weren’t *scientifically* described?
 
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