ML75875801

Age and sex

Juvenile, Unknown sex - X

Observation details

At 10:00 hrs on 28 August 2010, a BAT HAWK Macheiramphus alcinus was noticed perched in a c. 10 m-tall tree with sparse foliage among secondary forest and scrub, c. 500 m downhill of Kwau village (1,160 m asl; 1º 5.8’ S, 133º 55.6’ E) on the trail from Siyuobrig to Ciraubri in the Arfak Mountains of West Papua. The bird was watched and photographed within a range of 10 m over 15 min , during which the short crest typical for this local race could be seen (Plate 10) [JBH, JLR, ZW]. The extensive amount of white on the underparts suggests that this bird may be in juvenile or immature plumage. This species is known from scattered localities in the lowlands and foothills of Papua-New Guinea, from the southeast, west to near the Indonesian border (Finch 1978; Coates 1985; Beehler et al. 1986, Coates & Peckover 2001), but only two sightings of the species from Indonesian New Guinea (Irian Jaya or Papua) have been published. The first Papuan record came from a disturbed area in Kobakma, two days walking distance north of Wamena, at 975 m asl in December 1990 (Glynn 1995). The second Bat Hawk record came from primary forest near the Tiri River at 50-100 m in September 2000 (3º 17’S,138º 35’ E; Richards & Suryadi 2002, van Balen et al. 2003), about 100 km north of Glynn’s (1995) sighting. Another BAT HAWK was seen flying at dusk over the town of Agats (sea level; 05°32’ 16” S, 138°08’13” E), in the Asmat Regency, southern Papua, on 24 January 2011 [FG]. These records from far western and southern Papua suggest that the species may be found throughout the province, and the paucity of records from the region may be due to low birding effort coupled with the species’ crepuscular activity [JBH, JLR]. From: Harris JBC, Reid JL, and Wonggor Z (2011) Around the Archipelago: Papua. Kukila 15:132-133

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 40D

ISO

400

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/11.0

Shutter speed

1/640 sec

Dimensions

863 pixels x 1215 pixels

Original file size

368.3 KB