Sangihe Golden-Bulbul
Hypsipetes platenae
A dull thrush-sized songbird with a long stout bill. Uniform dark olive above with a prominent yellow patch between bill and eye, a yellow throat, a dark eye, and paler cheeks. Rest of underparts greenish. Juveniles duller and pale-eyed. Rare; small groups are confined to remnant patches of foothill forest on Sangihe. Prominent yellow parts of plumage separate it from the smaller, browner Sangihe Whistler. Calls include “bwit” and thrush-like “puk” notes. Loud, two-part song starts with four rising nasal notes, followed by whistles: “kwee-kwee-kwee-kwee-DEEP-pDEEP-pDEEP”.
Taxonomy
The Sangihe golden bulbul was formally described in 1888 by the German ornithologist Wilhelm Blasius from a specimen collected by Margarete and Carl Platen on Sangir Island, north of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Blaisius placed the species in the genus Criniger and coined the binomial name Criniger platenae. The specific epithet was chosen to honour the Platens. By publishing scientific names in a daily newspaper, the Braunschweigische Anzeiger, Blasius was able to get his new names in print before his main rival Richard Bowdler Sharpe.<p>The Sangihe golden bulbul was formerly considered as conspecific with the five other bulbuls, all called the northern golden bulbul before they were all split. This bulbul is now placed in the genus Hypsipetes that was introduced in 1831 by Nicholas Vigors.
- Scientific name
- Hypsipetes platenae
- Authority
- (Blasius, W, 1888)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Pycnonotidae
- Genus
- Hypsipetes
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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