Bird of the Week: Black-faced Monarch 25 December 2020
They fly down from the tropics every year to feed and breed in East Gippsland’s bountiful, insect-filled rainforests. They have something exotic and very cute about them – perhaps it’s that strange squeezy toy call, or maybe it’s their brilliant mango-coloured belly??? Or maybe it’s that perpetually-surprised look (enhanced by black feathers surrounding their black eye), like they are saying “Ow, ow, ee-ow … it’s cold down here!”
Martin Butterfield has put together some graphs to show sightings of Black-faced Monarchs in Mallacoota. They are most often sighted in November & December, but can be seen from September to April.
There seems to be some variability over the years too – they were sighted a lot more in 2015 & 2018 than in 2016 & 2017, and though sightings were low in early 2020 – presumably due to fires and lack of observers – he expects there to be a lot of sightings for 2021 as they are being reported everywhere at the moment.
They are a Monarch Flycatcher (Monarchidae) – a group of birds that includes our Magpie-lark, Australasian Myiagra flycatchers like the Leaden & Restless, paradise-flycatchers of Africa & Asia, crested-flycatchers of Africa, shrikebills from Melanesia & Polynesia and ‘elepaios of Hawaii.
There are quite a lot of birds called Monarch, spread through Australia, New Guinea and Southeast Asia, but only 9 in the genus Monarcha. The rest are in closely-related genera Pomarea, Mayrornis, Neolalage, Metabolus, Symposiachrus, Carterornis, and Arses. Another group, Hypothymis – beautiful blue monarchs of Asia, are not as closely related but also called Monarch.
In fact another Monarch has famously visited Mallacoota: the White-eared Monarch. Keith Allan reported this NSW-QLD vagrant on 25 March 2020 to this group, with pictures! This sighting added a bird species to the list for Victoria, bringing the state up to 490 species. There has since been another added to the list, also from Mallacoota: Providence Petrel, by Rohan Clarke on 29 November 2020 which makes the eBird Vic list 491.
Here’s the record from Keith Allan’s sighting: https://ebird.org/australia/checklist/S66831356
Tim Dolby & Dan Ashdown have pointed out that there is another record of a vagrant monarch in Mallacoota: a Spectacled Monarch, seen by Paul Peake in 2003. It was the second record of that species for the state – first seen at Point Addis in 1977.
Male and female Black-faced Monarchs look alike, but immature and juvenile birds lack the black face mask. See pics, and some fantastic information on this site: http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/black-faced-monarch
LISTEN TO THE CALLS: https://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Monarcha-melanopsis?view=3
Scroll through to see lots of great pics here: https://ebird.org/species/blfmon1
Details: Black-faced Monarch Monarcha melanopsis
Location: coastal eastern Australia and New Guinea. Generally only in eastern Victoria, but a few have turned up on the Great Ocean Road and in northern Victoria near Bendigo. A single bird was found dead in New Zealand – the only record in that country.
Conservation status/learn more: Still listed as secure, but the Black Summer fires impacted a majority of their breeding range.
https://www.birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/black-faced-monarch
Thanks to Phil & Kath Johnstone, Martin Butterfield, John Alan, John Hutchison, Rob Clay, Darilyn & Les Goldsmith, Gregory Storer & Michael Barnett, Martin Maderthaner, Tim Dolby & Dan Ashdown for your beautiful pics and info.
Mallacoota Birds 