Preliminary results of an ornithological exploration of the islands of Vitiaz and Dampier Straits, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The avifaunas of all major islands and many small islands in Vitiaz and Dampier Straits, Papua New Guinea, were surveyed in 1972. Marsh and waterbirds found at Lake Buan and the crater lakes of Umboi included Egretta intermedia, Dendocygna arcuata, Dendrocygna guttata and Himantopus himantopus. Bismarck endemic species of restricted distribution occurring in the mountains of Umboi were Henicophaps foersteri, Ducula melanochroa, Zoothera talaseae, Rhipidura dahli and Zosterops hyporantha. Other records of interest are the first record of Anas acuta for the New Guinean region; Accipiter luteoschistaceus, Accipter meyerianus and Phylloscopus trivirgatus on Umboi; Falco berigora and Numenius madagascariensis on Long; Turdus poliocephalus in the mountains of Tolokiwa; and Erythrura trichroa in the mountains of four islands. Pachycephala pectoralis and Pachycephala rnelanura dahli were taken in the same net-line on Tolokiwa, confirming that they are separate species. Black myzomelid populations of the Bismarcks, such as pammelaena. amear to be related to the myzomelid superspecies of the Solomon Islands, not to Myzornela nigrita.