Hi guys,
We have had a White-cheeked Honeyeater in Canberra since last year that has settled with the New Holland Honeyeaters. Over time i have witnessed the NH feeding the WC and recently the WC taking food to a bush. A couple of weeks ago i found a strange looking bird and have come to the conclusion that it is a cross between NH and WC.
Would be interested in your thoughts on this.
This is the true WC.
white-cheeked honeyeater (Phylidonyris niger)-1830 by shorty, on Flickr">[/url]white-cheeked honeyeater (Phylidonyris niger)-1830 by shorty, on Flickr
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And this is the Hybrid.
Note the eye is an odd colour, The white cheek looks incomplete but the white stripe on the head looks good for WC.
white-cheeked honeyeater (Phylidonyris niger)-2616 by shorty, on Flickr">[/url]white-cheeked honeyeater (Phylidonyris niger)-2616 by shorty, on Flickr
This is a pic of it's tail feathers, note that some have white tips while some don't.
WCHE-2851 by shorty, on Flickr">[/url]WCHE-2851 by shorty, on Flickr
Interesting observation Rawshorty - if you only have one WC Honeyeater in that area, its hard to argue with your conclusion
Worth watching to see if eye colour changes as it ages if you think this is the juvenile. A really interesting sighting
Sue
Wonderful shots! And what an interesting observation - a new species in the making. Thanks for sharing.
So interesting. Would love to see if it changes.
Interesting post and great photographs.
Samford Valley Qld.
interesting indeed
Thanks guys,
A local birder has been helping me with research on this and we just got an email. Dr Leo Joseph from the CSIRO has Stated "Yep I don't think there's much doubt about your bird being a hybrid", so looks like it is. Very exciting.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
You cannot get new species. Hybrids are infertile.
It's not exciting. It's sad. It means one of the birds doesn't have a mate within its own kind. What's the population of the White Faced Honey Eater in your area?
Not always.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
I assume you mean White-cheeked? If so the answer is one.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Yes... ALWAYS...
if the so called "hybrid" is fertile the parents are of the same species..
if you're calling a variation in creation a hybrid, you're incorrectly calling it. No new species occur...this is science 101.
I believe it is documented that birds (e.g.ducks such as mallard crosses) have produced fertile hybrids. However, I do not think they are termed a new species. Perhaps this is what caskursfriend2 is trying to say.
i note mention on Eremaea recently of some possible Monarch hybrids up Julatten way. That should also be interesting to follow.
Sue
Personally, I find this interesting. Keep us posted :)
UPDATE........
It seems that this bird will be declared a hybrid, the very experience birder helping me is writting about it for Canberra bird notes, i will post a link when it is available next month. Also it seems that the person in charge of updating E-Bird may be including it as a seperate bird on our lists.
Now the big news, the hybrid has successfully bred with a New Holland and they have produced 2 young and they have fledged. Also it has been determined that the hybrid is a female as it built the nest.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Wow Shorty, that is amazing news and how lucky for you to be so placed to see it all occurring. Please keep us posted with updates
Sue
Wow! Do you have photos of the fledglings? Do they show any White-cheeked characteristics?
Thanks for keeping us posted Shorty, that is a very exciting find and great news.
Like akasha I would like to know what characteristics of the White-cheeked HE they show.
Look forward to more updates.
Exciting find Shorty and an excellent set of shots to show it.
My most exciting finds were a melanistic and a leucistic noisy miner at my birdbath.
Cheers
Cage
Hunter Valley NSW
Another update........
First off, had a typo in my last post. There are 3 young, i got a very poor pic of the 3 together today,
It will take some months before the young will start to show what they will look like but have noted small differences between them today.
This one is showing some white on the tail feathers.
.
This is a poor pic of 2 of them and i note the larger white patches on the outer tail feathers on one of them.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
I think we are all intrigued by your observations (and photography skills) of this new hybrid you discovered. I am happy for them actually. Please tell us everything you can about them, what they do, etc. Your poor photos are still good quality photos by the way!!!! I'd love to hear more about them.
Here in Tenterfield we have the odd two individuals of 2 species that cannot find a mate. The new Striated Pardalote and the Yellow-faced Honeyeater. The Yellow-faced Honeyeater has waited 5 years for a new mate to show up then when it did happen it seems to be alone again after a few weeks for another 3-5 years. This actually happened very recently so I suspect all the other birds were of the same gender as the local one. The Striated Pardalote, probably out of desperation, may cross breed with another species and I suspect a Yellow Thornbill or a house sparrow. I believe it is generally rare but I also think that cross breeding occurs simply because a mate of it's own kind or a genetically good mate or whatever cannot be found within the bird's lifetime. And that is really sad when you think about it. Its sad to think about how rare our smaller birds are becoming and how far they will go to just reproduce. Unfortunately for my Yellow-faced Honeyeater it cannot cross breed with another similiar sized honeyeater of any kind as there are none in the area or elsewhere in town. It will be forced to cross breed - if it has any sense - with another similiar sized native species in order to mate. It is getting on in years. I often wish I knew where there were lots of both males and females of Yellow faced Honeyeaters so I could take the bird there so it wouldn't have to be alone anymore.
I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)