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/

Purple Swamphen - Porphyrio porphyrio

Purple Swamphen - Porphyrio porphyria

I went to photograph a Datura for a post I have been working on about the Plant family Solanaceae as well as a discussion of the difference between two genra that make up Tribe Datureae in Solonaceae: Datura and Brugmansia. Unfortunately the flowers had already closed so I ended up drving up to Aleisa and then decided to listen to my intuition and go up the road to Fiaga Power Station.

The road was unfrequented but in excellent condition so I had no problems and pulled over every now and then to take photos of various plants that caught my eye. Then as I approached a large field of newly planted taro I saw something moving on the roadside.

Purple Swamphen - Porphyrio porphyria

 Imagine my utter delight when I saw two Purple Swamphens - Porphyrio porphyria strutting around! One disappeared into the long grass opposite the cleared field with taro, but the other one stayed on the mound of excavated dirt that ran along that side of the road (no doubt for laying electrical power lines).

Purple Swamphen - Porphyrio porphyria

 I stopped the car and started taking photos because this is one bird that I have often seen around usually in bush land and large plantations but have never managed to get a decent photo off. I have seen one on a banana tree eating bananas at Vailele and Alafua but they are skittish birds and always fly away into surrounding scrub or high grass so running to get my camera is pointless. I few weeks earlier I saw one up at Tiapapata and took some photos with my camera phone. But the photo quality was dismal.

Purple Swamphen - Porphyrio porphyria

 This time I was able to take quite a few pictures as it strutted around, posed and looked for food in the dirt. It also started across the road and then went back again. All which allowed me to take some reasonable photos. Fortunately my zoom allows me to get close ups as I was not close at all.

Purple Swamphen - Porphyrio porphyria



After taking a few photos I started to edge the car forward a bit as I wanted to get closer for better quality photos. I was able to inch forward about a couple meters before the Purple Swamphen decided I was getting too close and flew away to hide in the long grass. Nonetheless I was quite happy as I did manage to get some slightly better quality photos.

Purple Swamphen - Porphyrio porphyria

Purple Swamphen - Porphyrio porphyria

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/