Trichoglossus haematodus (Linnaeus, 1771)

Bishop, K. David, 2023, The avifauna of Biak Island, Papua, Indonesia with comments on status, conservation, natural history and taxonomy, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 143 (1), pp. 3-62 : 42

RAINBOW LORIKEET Trichoglossus haematodus #

Local name Man Pèspès (Sansundi).

Range T. h. rosenbergii Biak, Supiori, T. h. haematodus Numfor, Yapen.

Taxonomy Beehler & Pratt (2016) treated the Biak population as a subspecies of the polytypic and widespread Rainbow Lorikeet. This taxon is a member of a hyper-variable lineage for which species boundaries are problematic and full molecular analysis is needed. Conversely, del Hoyo & Collar (2014) and Gregory (2017) split T. haematodus into seven species including Biak Lorikeet T. rosenbergii . However, in the latest analysis ( Joseph et al. 2020), the position of the taxon is still unresolved, which has important implications for conservation.

Status Endemic subspecies. Obtained by seven collectors including Ripley and seen by virtually all visitors. During July 1982 KDB found it ‘everywhere’ in southern Biak, invariably common and in flocks of 20 or more, sometimes flying over villages near the township of Biak. On Supiori KDB recorded it up to c. 360 m in primary forest on limestone karst, often feeding with Eos cyanogenia at flowering trees. Most visitors barely did more than list it until the proposed split (del Hoyo & Collar 2014), which dramatically changed their attitude to the taxon. It is difficult to determine when it began to decline on Biak, but clearly much smaller numbers were present from c.2000 onwards. Birders now make special efforts to seek this endemic but invariably struggle to see more than one or two. However, these observations are all from southern Biak, the most heavily populated and degraded part of the island. Large areas of apparently undisturbed forest persist in northern Biak and over much of Supiori, and a survey of these areas to determine the status of the taxon there is much needed. M. Halaouate (in litt. 2021) noted that Rainbow Lorikeets usually lack much value for trappers and collectors. However, this is one of the most strikingly beautiful Trichoglossus and has attracted collectors on Java, Bali and in the international markets to intensively trap this taxon to a point where it may go extinct on Biak in the near future. It fetches a quite high price in Europe to where it is exported ‘legally’ from Indonesia. Treating rosenbergii as a species has advantages (it can be formally protected) and disadvantages (it would become more sought after by collectors and trapping would thereby increase). Halaouate’s estimate of the remaining wild population is 2,000 ‒2,400 birds.