Bauer, Mikael

Bos, Bart

Marijnissen, Timo

Schellekens, Mark

Trainor, Colin R

English

KUKILA

Kukila 14 2009 Short Communication 70First Records of Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles forTimor and Flores, Lesser SundasCOLIN R. TRAINOR1, MIKAEL BAUER2, MARK SCHELLEKENS3, BART BOS4AND TIMO MARIJNISSEN51School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Charles Darwin University,Northern Territory, Australia. Email: colin.trainor@cdu.edu.au2Nygatan 3, 222 29, Lund, Sweden.3Ende – Kelimutu, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara 86372, Indonesia(alternative address, c/o Goirkestraat 146, 5046 GP Tilburg, The Netherlands)4Johannes Bosboomstraat 14, 1741 JX Schagen, The Netherlands.5Lagedijk 6, 1705 GE Heerhugowaard, The Netherlands.Ringkasan. Disajikan laporan mengenai penyebaran burung pantai Trulek TopengVanellus miles di Indonesia. Penyebaran utamanya ada di Australia dan Papua, dengancatatan sporadis di Wallacea bagian timur. Dalam laporan ini disajikan lima catatanpertama di Timor Leste (2-4 ekor, tahun 2005), dua di Timor Barat (3-13 ekor, tahun2005) dan tiga di Pulau Flores (4-7 ekor, tahun 2007).The Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles is essentially an Australian and NewGuinea (including Aru islands) shorebird with populations now established inNew Zealand, with occasional records from eastern Wallacea (Ambon, Banda,Kai, Leti, Babar and Tanimbar: Coates & Bishop 1997) as well as the Solomonislands, Christmas Island, Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island (Marchant &Higgins 1993). The species has been considered both as a “probably regularvisitor” (Marchant & Higgins 1993) and an irregular visitor (Coates & Bishop1997) to the Moluccas and Lesser Sundas, where records fall between May andSeptember-November. Surprisingly, the only published records for Wallacea are“a good series from Toeal [Kai Kecil island, undated, but bird specimens weresent back in April, June, August, September, November]” (Hartert 1901), anundated specimen from Larat, Tanimbar (Sclater 1883), and two voice records atSaumlaki, Yamdena (Tanimbar archipelago) Island, on 1 May 1993 (Johnstone1994) and 3 May 1993 (Bishop & Brickle 1999), yet there have apparently beenno recent direct field observations from Wallacea. There is but a single record ofMasked Lapwing on Ashmore Reef (145 km south of Roti Island) in August1997 (Milton 2005).We here document the first records of Masked Lapwing for Timor (fiverecords in East Timor, and two in West Timor; all during 2005) and Flores (threerecords in 2007). Records of ten species of waterbirds and shorebirds new toTimor Island were recently documented (Trainor 2005), but the Masked Lapwingwas observed only after that article was published. The species was included inTrainor et al. (2007) but without comment. Further details of the Timor sitesKukila 14 2009 Short Communication 71mentioned, including habitat type and coordinates, can be found in Trainor(2005).East TimorFour birds were observed feeding on irrigated rice-fields at Manatuto (60km east of Dili) on 6 June 2005. Subsequently four birds (presumably the sameindividuals) were seen at “Manatuto, 5 km west” on 14 June, and back at therice-fields on 15 October, suggesting that this group occupied a small area ofwetlands during the entire dry season. These birds were videotaped andphotographed to verify identification. Two birds were seen at the Loes Riverestuary (60 km west of Dili) on 10 September 2005 at the edge of freshwaterlagoons, and a further two birds were seen at the edge of the inland freshwaterwetland Lake Iralalaro (330 m asl) on 4 October (200 km east of Dili).West TimorAt Bipolo (c. 40 km northwest of Kupang), about 800 m from the forestpatch, six birds were observed on wet rice-fields on 2 August 2005 (BB & TM),whereas three and 13 birds were observed (MB) on rather dry rice-fields on 13and 17 August, respectively.FloresThree records, possibly all involving the same individuals, around Maumere,in northeast Flores: seven birds on 24 September 2007 at Maumere (Wai Oti)airport in dry grassland; five birds on 20 November 2007 feeding on exposedcoral reef at Waigete (12 km east of Maumere on Larantuka road); and, fourbirds at Maumere airport on 21 December 2007 (MS).Our records follow the same seasonal trend as previous records forsoutheast Wallacea (though specimen records were undated) suggesting that theMasked Lapwing is a sporadic dry season visitor to the region. We are unable tolink the occurrence of birds in Wallacea to particular weather patterns, butMasked Lapwings in Australia tend to disperse after rain, and retreat to coastalareas in autumn after inland wetlands become dry over summer (Marchant &Higgins 1993). It is possible that small numbers regularly overshoot theAustralian coast and visit Wallacea. We have reported the first December recordfor the region. Birds probably disperse, or return to Australia once the wetseason begins in December-January. Our records are apparently the first fieldobservations of Masked Lapwing in Southeast Asia since the ‘collecting era’ upto about 1910. We suspect that our 2005 records for Timor represent an influx,involving a minimum of 23 birds, but conceivably, many more birds at unvisitedlocations.Kukila 14 2009 Short Communication 72©RichardA.NoskePlate 1. Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles in Darwin,Australia.ReferencesBishop, D. & N.W. Brickle. 1999. An annotated checklist of the birds of the TanimbarIslands. Kukila 10: 115-150.Coates, B.J. & K.D. Bishop. 1997. A Guide to the Birds of Wallacea. Dove Publications,Alderley, Queensland.Hartert, E. 1901. On the birds of Key and South-East Islands, and of Ceram Laut.Novitates Zoologicae 8: 1-5, 93-101.Johnstone, R.E. 1994. Observation of seabirds and shorebirds in Nusa Tenggara (LesserSundas) and Moluccas, Indonesia. Western Australian Naturalist 19: 339-350.Marchant, S. & P.J. Higgins (eds) 1993. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand andAntarctic Birds. Volume 2: Raptors to Lapwings. Oxford University Press,Melbourne.Milton, D. 2005. Birds of Ashmore Reef National Nature Reserve: an assessment of itsimportance for native seabirds and waders. The Beagle, Records of the Museum andArt Galleries of the Northern Territory, Supplement 1: 133-141.Sclater, P.L. 1883. On birds collected in the Timor-Laut or Tenimber group of islands byMr. Henry O. Forbes. Proceedings of the Zoological Society London: 48-58 + pl.XI-XIV.Trainor, C.R. 2005. Waterbirds and coastal seabirds of Timor-Leste (East Timor): statusand distribution from surveys in August 2002-December 2004. Forktail 21: 61-78.Trainor, C.R., B. Coates & K.D. Bishop 2007. The Birds of Timor-Leste. BirdLifeInternational and Dove Publications, Jakarta.

First Records of Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles for Timor and Flores, Lesser Sundas

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First Records of Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles for Timor and Flores, Lesser Sundas

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