| Popis: |
Complement to the list of the birds of New Caledonia. Over the last five years, ten species of birds not previously known on the island have been seen, increasing the number of species/subspecies recorded in New Caledonia to about 192 taxa. Two of these new species bred: the Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo apparently colonised over the last one or two years and the Little Bittern, presumably the Australian sub-species Ixobrychus minutus dubius, which may have be present for a longer period. Migrants form the bulk of these new records, most of them being waders: Greenshank Tringa nebularia, Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus, Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris and Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus finschi. Other coastal and wetland birds include Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus and Little Tern Sterna albifrons. Terrestrial migrants or vagrants are more rare: an old record of a Channel-billed Cuckoo Scythrops novaehollandiae must be added to the list as well as recent observations of the White-throated Needle tail Hirundapus caudacutus, and a Tree Martin Hirundo nigricans. Data are also provided on other rare birds recorded over the past five years. |
