A great photo took by : Ross Tsai

any already saw this bird in real ?

Hello Aurelien,

wonderful photograph!
I think none of us has ever seen that bird alive in it´s natural habitat (or has anybody visited that isle of Neuguinea on which that species lives?). As far a I know this species has never been kept in aviaries or cages in Europe...

Greetings,
Steffi

Da kann ich Steffi nur zustimmen , habe in meinem Leben zwar schon sehr viele Vogelarten gesehen , diese allerdings noch nie .

What think about :



found here : http://www.naturepicturesource.com/detail/2379.html




found on http://pragtfinker.com (peter's website ?)
and http://www.rarefinch.co.za/rare-finch-specific.asp?spID=27


these photos are bad quality maybe digitally processed ?


About CITES, 700 Lonchura was exported in 1989 and 200 arrived in Africa ?

Hi,

I have seen both photos before: with the upper bird, I had my doubts even before I saw Ross Tsai's excellent photo that you posted here. It might be a Munia pallida. One major difference between vana and pallida (apart from the grey band) are the uppertail-coverts: they should be yellow on vana (great to see on the Ross Tsai pic!). The upper bird doesn't seem to have yellow uppertail-coverts at all (rather brownish) and not the slightest bit of a grey band. That's why I would say it is a Munia pallida. Above all, this is obviously a caged bird.... very unlikely to be Munia vana.
The other photo does look more like a "real" Munia vana to me. The light was obviously difficult when it was taken. Overall, the bird might appear much darker than it really was. At least the grey band is clearly visible, that's why I would think it could in fact be vana. Uppertail-coverts almost impossible to judge on this photo.

Sven

now arfak mountain are big and inexplored maybe some subspecies :p. But that's sure the birds on photo of Ross Tsai is different from the others !!