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Black Honey Buzzard
The black honey-buzzard (''Henicopernis infuscatus''), also commonly known as the New Britain Honey-Buzzard, is a large raptor of the family Accipitridae. Standing at around tall, the adult black honey-buzzard has a dark head and body, with striking white bands on its tail and flight feathers. When in flight, the buzzard can be recognized by its long wings and noticeably large secondary feathers. It is thought to be sedentary, with a range limited to the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea, where it is endemic. Due to its remote habitat and tendency to remain in densely forested areas, there is currently much to learn about this striking species. Description The black honey-buzzard is a dark grey-brown colour with pale silvery bars on the wings and tail. When perched, the wing and tail bars are clearly visible. In flight, the wing bars are notable and the wing shape is distinctive, with a narrow base and broad tips, and bulging outer primaries. Juvenile markings are unkn ...
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John Henry Gurney
John Henry Gurney (4 July 1819 – 20 April 1890) was an England, English banker, amateur ornithologist, and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician of the Gurney family (Norwich), Gurney family. Life Gurney was the only son of Joseph John Gurney of Earlham Hall, Norwich, Norfolk. At the age of ten he was sent to a private tutor at Leytonstone near the Epping Forest, where he met Henry Doubleday (1808–1875), Henry Doubleday, and commenced his first natural history collection. From there he moved to the Friends' School at Tottenham, and whilst there met William Yarrell. At the age of seventeen he joined Gurney's Bank, the family's banking business in Norwich. Gurney published a number of articles in ''The Zoologist'' on the birds of Norfolk, for instance 'An Account of the Birds of Norfolk', with W.R. Fisher (1846-1848). Gurney also commenced a collection of birds of prey. In 1864 he published Part I. of his ''Descriptive Catalogue'' of this collection, and in 1872 he edit ...
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Sahul Shelf
Geologically, the Sahul Shelf () is a part of the continental shelf of the Australian continent, lying off the northwest coast of mainland Australia. Etymology The name "Sahull" or "Sahoel" appeared on 17th century Dutch maps applied to a submerged sandbank between Australia and Timor. On his 1803 map, Matthew Flinders noted the "Great Sahul Shoal" where Malays came from Makassar to fish for ''trepang'' (sea cucumber). The name Sahul Shelf ( nl, Sahoel-plat) was coined in 1919 by G.A.F. Molengraaff, an authority on the geology of the then Dutch East Indies. Geography The Sahul Shelf proper stretches northwest from Australia much of the way under the Timor Sea towards Timor, ending where the seabed begins descending into the Timor Trough. To the northeast, the Sahul Shelf merges into the Arafura Shelf, which runs from the northern coast of Australia under the Arafura Sea north to New Guinea. The Aru Islands rise from the Arafura Shelf. The Sahul Shelf is sometimes taken to ...
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Birds Described In 1882
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming. ...
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Birds Of New Britain
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. There are about ten thousand living species, more than half of which are passerine, or "perching" birds. Birds have whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have further evolved for swimming. Birds ...
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Red Goshawk
The red goshawk (''Erythrotriorchis radiatus'') is probably the rarest Australian bird of prey. It is found mainly in the savanna woodlands of northern Australia, particularly near watercourses. It takes a broad range of live prey, mostly birds. Taxonomy The red goshawk was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name ''Falco radiatus''. The species used to be regarded as a very large member of the goshawk subfamily, Accipitrinae, but it is now believed that the resemblance to these other birds is convergent. Experts now group the red goshawk with the superficially dissimilar black-breasted buzzard ''Hamirostra melanosternon'' and square-tailed kite ''Lophoictinia isura'' as one of the Australasian old endemic raptors. It is believed that the ancestors of these birds, possibly together with a handful of species from South-east Asia and Africa, occupied Gondwana and over millions of years have diverged into their current forms. Gen ...
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Bismarck Archipelago
The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants of the archipelago arrived around 30–40,000 years ago. They may have traveled from New Guinea, by boat across the Bismarck Sea or via a temporary land bridge, created by an uplift in the Earth's Crust (geology), crust. Later arrivals included the Lapita people. The first European to visit these islands was Dutch explorer Willem Schouten in 1616. The islands remained unsettled by western Europeans until they were annexed as part of the German protectorate of German New Guinea in 1884. The area was named in honour of the Chancellor of Germany (German Reich), Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. On 1888 Ritter Island eruption and tsunami, 13 March 1888, a volcano erupted on Ritter Island causing a megatsunami. Almost the entire volcano fell into t ...
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Square-tailed Kite
The square-tailed kite (''Lophoictinia isura'') is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, eagles and harriers. Taxonomy German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup described the square-tailed kite in 1847. The square-tailed kite is monomorphic with no recorded geographic variations. Description As an adult the square-tailed kite is a medium-sized raptor, with the following features: * Length: 50–56 cm (tail is about half the length of bird) * Wingspan: 130–145 cm * Weight: Male-501g, Female-650g Plumage variation As an adult, the squared-tailed kite has a white face, with pale eyes and black streaks across the crown. The breast is also heavily streaked. The ventral surface of the wings has a rufous-brown lining, a dark carpal crescent, and a boldly barred finger. There is also a pale white patch on the ventral surface of the wings, at the base of the primary feathers; the saddle, rump ...
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Long-tailed Honey-buzzard
The long-tailed honey buzzard (''Henicopernis longicauda'') is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is found in New Guinea and some neighboring island groups. Raja Ampat, Aru, Biak, and Yapen groups. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. References External links * * long-tailed honey buzzard long-tailed honey buzzard long-tailed honey buzzard The long-tailed honey buzzard (''Henicopernis longicauda'') is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is found in New Guinea and some neighboring island groups.Raja Ampat, Aru, Biak, and Yapen groups. Its natural habitats are subtropic ... Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Accipitriformes-stub ...
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Accipitridae
The Accipitridae is one of the three families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-sized mammals, with a number feeding on carrion and a few feeding on fruit. The Accipitridae have a cosmopolitan distribution, being found on all the world's continents (except Antarctica) and a number of oceanic island groups. Some species are migratory. The family contains 255 species which are divided into 70 genera. Many well-known birds such as hawks, eagles, kites, harriers and Old World vultures are included in this group. The osprey is usually placed in a separate family (Pandionidae), as is the secretary bird (Sagittariidae), and the New World vultures are also usually now regarded as a separate family or order. Karyotype data indicate the accipitrids analysed are indeed a distinct monophyletic group. Systematics and phylogeny ...
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Henicopernis
''Henicopernis'' is a genus of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Species It contains the following species: Both species are endemic to New Guinea. Genetic research has found that they are closely related to the Australian endemic square-tailed kite (''Lophoictinia isura'') and black-breasted buzzard (''Hamirostra melanosternon''), all sharing a 3-base-pair deletion in the RAG-1 gene. The four species form a monophyletic clade sister to '' Aviceda'' within the subfamily Perninae The raptor subfamily Perninae includes a number of medium-sized broad-winged species. These are birds of warmer climates, although the ''Pernis'' species (European honey buzzard and crested honey buzzard) have a more extensive range. Several of .... It has been proposed that they could be united into a single genus, ''Hamirostra'' having precedence. (open access) References Bird genera * Taxa named by George Robert Gray Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Accipitrifor ...
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Elaninae
An elanine kite is any of several small, lightly-built raptors with long, pointed wings. Some authorities list the group as a formal subfamily, Elaninae. As a subfamily there are six species in three genera with two of these genera being monotypic. Two other species have at times been included with the group, but genetic research has shown them to belong to different subfamilies. Elanine kites have a near-worldwide distribution, with two endemic species found in the Americas, two in Australia, and one in Africa, while the black-winged kite is found over a vast range from Europe and Africa in the west to Southeast Asia in the east. Species Current Elaninae Previously in Elaninae * Genus ''Machaerhamphus'' or ''Macheiramphus'' (subfamily Harpiinae) ** Bat hawk, ''M. alcinus'' – Paleotropics (Africa, south Asia through to New Guinea) * Genus ''Elanoides'' (subfamily Perninae) ** Swallow-tailed kite, ''Elanoides forficatus'' – Americas Description ''Elanus'' species are p ...
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