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Birds of the Solander Islands

Notornis, 33 (2), 77-89

W.J. Cooper; C.M. Miskelly; K. Morrison, K.; R.J. Peacock (1986)

Article Type: Paper

Birds observed on the Solander Islands 25-27 July 1985 are discussed in relation to previous records from the islands. Black shag, banded rail, song thrush and greenfinch have not been reported previously. Solander Island had a major colony of Buller’s mollymawk, with an estimated 4000-5000 pairs. A further 300 pairs bred on Little Solander Island, which also had a large colony of common diving petrels. On Little Solander, New Zealand’s southernmost gannet colony, were 20-10 Australasian gannets. Red-crowned parakeets seem to have displaced yellow-crowned parakeets on the Solander Islands since 1948. The faunal relationships of the Solander Islands are discussed, as is the apparent effect of predation by introduced weka on Solander Island.

An early account of some birds from Mauke, Cook Islands, and the origin of the “mysterious starling” Aplonis mavornata Buller

Notornis, 33 (4), 197-208

S.L. Olson (1986)

Article Type: Paper

Overlooked manuscript notes made by Andrew Bloxam during the voyage of HMS Blonde detail his observations of birds on the island of Mauke, southern Cook group, on 9 August 1825, nearly 150 years before birds were again collected on the island. These notes establish that the unique type of the “mysterious starling” Aplonis mavornara Buller, a valid species previously of unknown origin and now extinct, was one of the three specimens collected on Mauke by Bloxam. The other two, which have not yet been located, if they still exist, were the kingfisher Halcyon tuta mauke and the fruit dove Ptilinopus rarotongensis cf. goodwini, the latter otherwise unknown on Mauke and probably now extinct there.

The orange-fronted parakeet (Cyanoramphus malherbi) is a colour morph of the yellow-crowned parakeet (C. auriceps)

Notornis, 33 (1), 17-22

R.H. Taylor; E.G. Heatherbell; E.M. Heatherbell (1986)

Article Type: Paper

Cyanoramphus malherbi (Souance 1857) is relegated to synonymy with C. auriceps (Kuhl 1820) after cross-breeding in captivity showed that both are colour morphs of one species. The resulting parent-offspring data can be most simply explained by the Mendelian theory of dominant/recessive inheritance at a single locus, the factor for yellow-crowned being dominant.

The relationship between riverbed flooding and non-breeding wrybills on northern feeding grounds in summer

Notornis, 32 (1), 42-50

K.F.D. Hughey (1985)

Article Type: Paper

I investigated the relationship between floods on the riverbed breeding grounds of wrybills (Anarhynchus frontalis) and the number of wrybills censused on northern harbours the following summer. For the purposes of the study I assumed that most birds oversummering on northern harbours are first-year non-breeders and that flood flows of the Rakaia River are representative of most other wrybill breeding rivers. A highly significant negative correlation (r2=0.69; p<0.01) existed for the 1968-1982 period. The study’s findings provide some support for the observation that by the early 1960s the wrybill population, after many years of growth, had begun to stabilise. Serious flooding in the 1982 and 1983 breeding seasons may have again destabilised the population structure.
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