Some Birds of Samoa

White tern (Gygis alba)

Binomial Name: Gygis alba

Common names: White tern, Common White Tern, (English) Tava’esina (Samoan) Gygis blanche (French); Feenseeschwalbe (German); Charrán Blanco (Spanish)
Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia - Phylum: Chordata – Class: Aves – Order: Charadriiformes – Family: Sternidae– Genus: Gygis– Species: G. alba

Photographed at Vailima on the Road of Loving Hearts on the way up to Robert Louis Stevenson's tomb.

 

Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio)

Binomial Name: Porphyrio porphyrio

Common names: Purple Swamphen (English) Manualii (Samoan); Taléve sultane (French); Purpurhuhn (German); Calamón Común (Spanish); Pūkeko (Māori)
Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia - Phylum: Chordata – Class: Aves – Order: Gruiformes – Family: Rallidae– Genus: Porphyrio– Species: P. porphyrio

Photographed past Aleisa on the road going up to the Power Station

Wattled Honeyeater (Foulehaio carunculatus)

 

Binomial Name: Foulehaio carunculatus

Common names: Wattled honeyeater, Carunculated Wattled Honeyeater, Samoan Wattled Honeyeater, Viti levu Honeyeater (English) I’ao (Samoan) Schuppenkopf-Honigfresser (German); Mielero Foulehaio (Spanish); Méliphage foulehaio (French0
Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia - Phylum: Chordata – Class: Aves – Order: Passeriformes – Family: Meliphagidae– Genus: Fouehaio – Species: F. carunculatus

Photographed in Mango tree at Alafua

 

Cardinal Myzomela (Myzomela cardinalis)

Binomial Name: Myzomela cardinalis

Common names: Myzomela cardinalis, Cardinal Honeyeater, Black-bellied Honeysucker, Samoan Cardinal Myzomela (English) Segaseagamau’u (Samoan); Myzoméle cardinal (French); Kardinalhonigfresser (German); Mielero Cardenal (Spanish)

Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia - Phylum: Chordata – Class: Aves – Order: Passeriformes – Family: Meliphagidae– Genus: Myzomela – Species: M. cardinalis

Photographed after Cyclone Evan on fallen Nuno tree at Alafua.

 

A Many Coloured Fruit Dove (Ptilinopus perousii)

Binomial Name: Ptilinopus perousii

Common names: Many coloured fruit dove (English) Manuma (Samoan) v
Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia - Phylum: Chordata – Class: Aves – Order: Columbiformes – Family: Columbidae– Genus: Ptilinopus– Species: P. perousii

Photographed on a tree in the Vailima Botanical Garden right near the entrance to the garden. 

On-line References and Links:

Please note: I will adding book references when I am able to access some suitable ones.

Gygis alba

The Guardian, “Mystery bird: white tern, Gygis alba” LINK

Birdlife International Entry for Common White Tern Gygis alba LINK

Internet Bird Collection: LINK

IUCU Red List of Threatened Species, Entry for Gygis alba LINK

Wikipedia Entry for White Tern LINK

Porphyrio porphyrio

Birdlife International Entry for (Porphyrio porphyrio) LINK

Internet Bird Collection entry for Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) LINK

IUCU Red List of Threatened Species, Entry for Porphyrio porphyria LINK

Wikipedia Entry for Purple Swamphen LINK

 

Foulehaio carunculatus

Birdlife International entry for Wattled Honeyeater Foulehaio carunculatus LINK

Internet Bird Collection entry for Wattled Honeyeater (Foulehaio carunculatus) LINK

IUCU Red List of Threatened Species, Entry for Foulehaio carunculatus LINK

Wikipedia Entry for Wattled Honeyeater LINK

Myzomela cardinalis

Birdlife International entry for LINK

Internet Bird Collection entry for Myzomela cardinalis (Cardinal Myzomela) LINK

IUCU Red List of Threatened Species, Entry for Myzomela cardinalis (Cardinal Myzomela) LINK

Wikipedia entry for cardinal Myzomela LINK

Ptilinopus perosii

Birdlife International Entry for Many-Coloured fruit-dove Ptilinopus perousii LINK
Internet Bird Collection: LINK
IUCU Red List of Threatened Species, Entry for Ptilinopus perosii (Has not yet been assessed for the IUCN Red List)
Wikipedia Entry for Many-coloured Fruit-dove LINK

IMPORTANT
Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

My current blogs:

· Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

· Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

Serendipity at Papapapaitai Falls

On the same day that I saw an unexpected bird at the Vailima Botanical Garden I went up to Tiavi and over to the Papapapaitai Falls lookout and was taking some photos when I caught sight of a Cardinal Myzomela, Myzomela cardinalis feeding of some Firecracker Hibiscus, Malvaviscus penduliflorus.



Cardinal Myzomela, Myzomela cardinalis feeding of some Firecracker Hibiscus, Malvaviscus penduliflorus



Cardinal Myzomela, Myzomela cardinalis feeding of some Firecracker Hibiscus, Malvaviscus penduliflorus

Additional Information:

Binomial Name: Phylum: Chordata – Class: Aves – Order: Passerformes – Familt: Meliphagidae – Genus: Myzomela – Species: M. cardinalis

Common names: Cardinal Myzomela (English) Segaseagmau’u(Samoan)

Binomial Name: Malvaviscus penduliflorus

Common names: Firecracker Hibiscus,  Turk's Cap Mallow, Wax Mallow, Sleeping Hibiscus, Mazapan(English)

Taxonomy

• Phylum: Chordata – Class: Aves – Order: Passeriformes – Family: Meliphagidae – Genus: Myzomela – Species: M. cardinalis
• Order: Malvaceae – Family Malvaceae – Subfamily: Malvoideae – Tribe: Hibisceae – Genus: Malvaviscus - Species: M. arboreus

Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

My other blogs

· Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

· Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/

Some Random plants and birds from Samoa

This is one of the plants I found growing at the summit of Mount Vaea where Robert Louis Stevenson's tomb is. It looks like Lantana but I am only familiar with the yellow and orange variety so I cannot be certain although the flower structure looks similar. The other major difference is that all of the yellow orange ones I have seen have tons of flowers whereas this one just had a few appearing amidst other plants. Perhaps they are a few young plants struggling to survive amongst the other plants?


Calathea burle-marxii "Blue Ice"

Here is one of the Calathea burle-marxii "Blue Ice" that I transplanted at Alafua. All the Calathea burle-marxii "Blue Ice" and "Green Ice" appear to have survived transplant and as evidenced by the flowers.

 Chinese Violet, (Asystasia gangetica)



Flowers of the Surinam Cherry, (Eugenia uniflora)



Fruit of the Surinam Cherry, (Eugenia uniflora)

 The Surinam Cherry belongs to the plant family Myrtaceae

Flowers of an Unknown shrub



Tomato flowers (Solanum lycopersicum)

Cardinal Myzomela (Myzomela cardinalis)

We saw this chap feasting in a large stand of Odontenema. I am not sure which species we have here in Samoa. It could be either Odontonema strictum or Odontonema cuspidatum although it appears that the two a synonymous so I guess either one could be considered correct.

In any case it is appropriate for a Cardianl Myzomela to been seen amongst these flowers as one of  Odontenema's common names is "Cardinal guard".


Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters Blog by Vincent Albert Vermeulen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.be/.

My other blogs

· Flora and Fauna - Plants and Critters (on plants, animals as well as gardening, conservation and environmental matters): http://plantsandcritters.blogspot.com/

· The Blood of Souls (language, translation and etymology) : http://thebloodofsouls.blogspot.com/

· Whiskers on Kittens (Life with Kittens and Cats in general) : http://whiskersonkittens-vincent.blogspot.com/