'A new site for Newton''s Fiscal Lanius newtoni'

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by  Valéry Schollaert

A new site for Newton’s Fiscal Lanius newtoni
\’cileryScbolideft1and Gilles Willemb
Cettenoterelated’uneprospectionrealiseeentrele8etle 13juilletdansunezonedeforetprimaire
situee a l’ouestdu Rio16Grande, danslesud-estde lUedeSaoTome. 11 semble qu’il s’agisse de la
premiereprospecti m >mithologiquedans gion Lesobservationsetaientalahauteurdetoutes
.
>erances. EnefFet, la plupaitdesendemiquesa llleontetetrouves, notamment le Nasique de
1 murocicblabocagei, l’lbisdeBocageBostrycbiaolivact. K>cag( et la Pie-griechede Sao
1 me Lanius newt ni Cette demiei apparemment pour la premiere fois, photographiee sur
leterrain lInedescriptic>ndes<)iseaux st donnee, ainsiquede lour \ocalisationetde lour
o<>mp<>rtement.< )nin>teraenparticulierquecetteespecea laqueueclairementechancree,faitunique
parmi lesLanins. Enfin, ui n, malheureusement trop breveet dans de mauvaises condi-
tions. du Neospizede SaoTome, a ete realisee par undesobservateurs.
Between8and 13July 1999. weconducteda Five-
daysurveyofanareaofprimaryforestwestofthe
no 16 Grande (00°08'\ 06°3“”W), in south-east Sao
Tome.AccordingtoJacquesRosseel(ECOFAC).who
had visited the area east ofthe river, this previously
unexplored area appeared excellent and he recom-
mendedthatwevisitit.Thealtitudevariesfromc60to
214 m. Two small tributaries of the rio 16 Grande,
namely the rios Miranda Guedes and Joao, flow
through the area.
Ourmainpurposewastofindtherarestandmost
localisedislandendemics:DwarfOliveIbisBostrycbia
oliracea bocagei, Sao Tome Short-tail (Bocage’s
Longbill) Amaurocicbla bocagei Newton's (Sao Figure I HabitatofNewton’sFisc.il Laniusnewtoni, in
. south-eastSaoTome(GillesWillem)
Tome)FiscalLaniusnewtoniandSaoTomeGrosbeak
Neospiza concolor.
WiththehelpofourECOFACguide. PedroLetao,
Benoit Forget and (for the last two days)Josep del
Hoyo,wefoundalmostallofthese. DwarfOliveIbis
and Sao Tome Short-tail proved relatively easy to
find, the latteralong the smallest rivers and forested
foothills.OfSaoTomeGrosbeak,however,onlybrief
andunsatisfactoryviewswereobtainedbyoneofus:
whatwasthought tobe thisspecieswasfirst seen in
flightandsubsequentlyindense, dark undergrowth,
alongtherioJoao.Thisdoesnotpermitconfirmation
ofthe presence ofthis rare species in the area.
For Newton’s Fiscal, excellent sight records and
good tape-recordings were obtained. We found a
totaloffiveindividualsatthreedifferentlocations,all
alongtheridgewestoftherio16Grande.Thefirstwas
at210m,justsouthoftherioMirandaGuedes,thetwo
others at 180 m, between the rios Miranda Guedes
GW
andJoao. photographedtwoindividuals, appar-
entlythe first field photographs ofthe species.
The following notes were taken in the field. A Figure2. Newton's Fiscal Laniusnewtoni,south-eastSao
veryslimshrike, thesizeofaCommonFiscalLanius Tome(GillesWillem)
NewsiteforNewton’sFiscal: Schollaert& Willem BullABC Vol8No 1 -21
collaris,witharelativelythin, longhillandlonglegs. ThesearethefirstsightingsofNewton’sFiscal in
Primary projection appeared quite short. Head and thesouth-eastoftheisland. Thespecies’rangeisstill
bill shapes recalled those of a small hush-shrike imperfectly known. Since its rediscovery, in 1990. it
Telophorus spp. Crown, upperparts and tail black has been recorded in primary lowland forest, up to
except for a white panel on the scapulars and grey 700m.alongtheriosSaoMiguel.XufexufeandQuija
patch at the base of the primaries. The underparts. in the south-west, and in the north-east ofthe main
from chin to lower belly, were yellow. Undertail- forest block, west of Bombain. There is also an un-
covertsdarkgreywithwhitetips.Tailgraduated,with confirmedreportfromtheenvironsofEstacaoSousa,
roundedrectrices, andappearedclearlyforked in all just south of Pico de Sao Tome1-2 (J Rosseel pers
individuals, most unusually for a shrike. This is not comm).
mentioned in mostofthe recent literature-\ butwas
alsonoticedbySargeant',whoconsidered itreminis- Acknowledgements
cent ofAsian forktailsEnicurusspp. and wondered We thank Pedro Letao.Jacques Rosseel and thestaff
whetherthis was a result ofmoult. of ECOFAC Sao Tome for providing much useful
One individual (which was photographed) was information and logistical help. We also thank Ron
slightly duller, particularly on the underparts, with Demey for encouraging us to write this note and
thewhitepanelonthescapularsa littledirtyandthe suggesting improvements to its draft. 7
undertail-covertslesscontrasting.Thismayhavebeen
an immatureplumage, orduetoslightsexualdimor- References
phism. 1. Atkinson, P., Peel. N. and Alexander. |. 1991. The
Thesongconsistedofalongseriesofquiteshort, statusandconservationoftheendemicbirdsofSao
monosyllabic,flutedtinnotes,.Atape-recordingcom- Tome and Principe, West Africa. Bird Conserr.
prisesanuninterruptedseriesof59tiunoteslasting 1 Intematn. 1: 255-282.
min and 14 seconds. The longest series lasted 2 min 2. Christy,P.andClarke.W.V. 1998.GuidedesOiseau.x
and 21 sec. We also hearda much fasterand higher deSao TomeetPrincipe. Sao Tome: ECOFAC.
pitched tee-tee-tee, and an alarm call that could be 3. Lefranc. N. and Worfolk. T. 1997. Shrikes.A Guide
to the Shrikes of the World. Robertsbridge: Pica
describedas a fast series ofshorttchicknotes.
Press.
All individuals appeared nervous and shy, con- 4. Sargeant. 1). 1994. Recent ornithological observa-
ssteacnotnlydsmoovnintgheansdanmoetbrreamnacihn.inBgoftohrmwohreenthpaenrcahfienwg t1i0o2nsfromSaoTomeandPrincipe.Bull.ABC1:96-
.
and on the ground (where only one was seen) they
movedthetail,wingsorhead inthemannerofsome “ruedeGerlache 57. 1040Brussels. Belgium.
Turdidaespp, and appeared obviouslydisturbed by hrueHenriConscience 7. 1S00 Yilvorde. Belgium.
our presence.
22-BullABC Vol8No 1 NewsiteforNewton’sFiscal: Schollaert& Willem