Rawnsley's bowerbird

Rawnsley's bowerbird, also known as Rawnsley's satin bird[1] or the blue regent, is a rare intergeneric hybrid between a satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) and a regent bowerbird (Sericulus chrysocephalus).

Rawnsley's bowerbird
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Superfamily: Menuroidea
Family: Ptilonorhynchidae
Hybrid: Ptilonorhynchus violaceus × Sericulus chrysocephalus
Synonyms
  • Ptilonorhynchus rawnsleyi Diggles, 1867

Type specimen

It is based on a unique specimen collected by Henry Charles Rawnsley at Witton, near Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, on 14 July 1867. It was described and illustrated (as Ptilonorhynchus rawnsleyi) in the same year by Silvester Diggles in Part 15 of his three-volume work The Ornithology of Australia.[2] It has at various times been considered to be a valid bowerbird species, an aberrant individual of the satin bowerbird, or an adult hybrid individual resulting from the natural crossing of a regent bowerbird with a satin bowerbird.[3][4] The specimen was lost prior to 1950.

Photographs

A second example was not recorded until sightings and photographic evidence of another bird were obtained in November 2003 and January 2004 at Beechmont, South East Queensland, adjacent to the Lamington National Park.[5] A further example, a mature male, was photographed in Kalang, New South Wales, in 2014, and was identified by reference to its description on Wikipedia.[6]

Description

The specimen was described as being in adult male plumage, mainly the glossy blue-black colouring of the adult male satin bowerbird, but with a conspicuous and extensive yellow wing patch, yellow tipping to some tail feathers, with a paler iris colour than the satin bowerbird, and intermediate in size between the two putative parent species.

References

Notes
  1. Iredale (1950), p.212.
  2. Diggles (1867).
  3. Frith & Frith (2004), p.387.
  4. Blunt & Frith (2004).
  5. Blunt & Frith (2004).
  6. "Rare bird spotted in Kalang". The Bellingen Shire Courier Sun. 21 October 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2014.

Sources
  • "Rawnsley's Bowerbird (Satin x Regent)". Blunt, Daniel; & Frith, Clifford B. Gondwana Guides. 2004. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  • Diggles, S. (1867). The Ornithology of Australia: being illustrations of 244 Australian Birds, with descriptive letter-press. Brisbane.
  • Frith, Clifford B. & Frith, Dawn W. (2004). The Bowerbirds. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-854844-7.
  • Tom Iredale (1950). Birds of Paradise and Bowerbirds. Melbourne: Georgian House.


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