10,000 Birds

AUGUST 27, 2014

I’ve written before about how the Collared Kingfisher is a million splits waiting to happen (not happened yet), and the golden whistlers of the Pacific have been split now (giving me on from Fiji, one in Australia and one in Vanuatu), but I hadn’t really expected the Wattled Honeyeater to be a split. Photo from ‘Eua, Tonga.

Tonga 173

Tonga Fiji Samoa Vanuatu 173

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

’s Birds of the Solomons, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia , “nests colonially on small offshore islands, but visits coastal lowlands of larger islands to forage for food.” A large, extinct relative of the (barely) extant Tooth-billed Pigeon described above was described in 2006 from remains found in Tonga ( Steadman 2006 ).

Solomon Islands 272

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius Humane 272

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

All the way back in 2011 I wrote about the confusing taxanomic enigma that is the Collared Kingfisher , a species that ranges from the Red Sea to Tonga in a bewildering variety of forms. Subspecies sacer , ‘Eua, Tonga. Subspecies juliae , Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. For example only a single subspecies from Vanuatu was sampled.

United Arab Emirates 173

United Arab Emirates Micronesia Tonga Vanuatu 173

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2011

The Collared Kingfisher isn’t the most widespread kingfisher in the world (a distinction that would probably go to the Common Kingfisher or the Pied Kingfisher ), but it is close, ranging from the African coast of the Red Sea through to Tonga and American Samoa. Subspecies sacer , ‘Eua, Tonga. Photo by author.

Samoa 166

Samoa Vanuatu United Arab Emirates Tonga 166