Morphometrics of forest birds in the Orongorongo Valley, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

Birds in indigenous forest in the Orongorongo Valley, Wellington, were mist-netted from 1967 to 1976, and 3902 were weighed and measured. Average weight and measurements are given for New Zealand pigeon, shining cuckoo, long-tailed cuckoo, morepork, New Zealand kingfisher, rifleman, hedgesparrow, whitehead, grey warbler, fantail, tomtit, song thrush, blackbird, silvereye, bellbird, tui, and chaffinch. In 5 species males and females were easily identifiable by plumage differences, and also differed in size. Whiteheads were sometimes mis-sexed on the basis of head colour. Tui were not sexually dichromatic, but were strongly dimorphic, and were sexed by weight and wing length. Principal component analysis of measurements of tui and whitehead each produced 2 clusters of points that were assumed to represent males and females. The clusters for tui agreed with the identification derived from weight and wing length. Some whiteheads classified as females from plumage were classified as males by principal component analysis; weights and measurements for male and female whiteheads identified by each method are presented. For dimorphic species, weights and measurements of adult males and adult females are given separately. Male riflemen were smaller than females, but in the other 6 dimorphic species males were larger than females.

Changes in the diversity of New Zealand forest birds

“…O'Donnell (1981) reported that the foods of kingfishers from three sites included many forest insects. Robertson et al (1983) included it in a discussion of forest birds from the southern North Island. Williams & Harrison (1972) suggested that the laughing owl was a bird ofrocky areas and the forest edge, but it has been recorded from forested areas of both the North and South islands.…”

Tony Whitaker: life and achievements of a pioneer New Zealand lizard ecologist

“…They were operated 4 days a month 1969-1976, except in the rain. This unique rig is described in Whitaker (1972), with results in Robertson et al (1983) and Fitzgerald et al (1989). Altogether, 3902 birds of 23 species were caught 5964 times.…”

Morphometrics and moult in Fijian passerines

“…;Abbott 1977;Robertson & Woodall 1982). The New Zealand grey-backed white-eye (= silvereye) is heavier and has longer wings than the Fiji subspecies (Gill 1980;Robertson et al 1983). The Fijian scarlet robin has a significantly shorter wing (60 mm) (even allowing for shrinkage of museum specimens) than those from Southern Victoria and Tasmania (74-75 mm) (Abbott 1977).…”