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PILOTBIRD: NOW THERE ARE TWO
"We have uncovered two distinct races of Pilotbird," says Dr Richard Schodde, Curator of the ANWC. "One is small and pale and lives in lower country around the coast. The other is larger and darker and is confined to the higher Snowy Mountains north to the Brindabellas in the ACT. "From what we know today, it is quite likely that that specimen was sent to Gould by the early explorer, Hamilton Hume," says Dr Schodde. "Hume settled in Yass around 1851, so the original Pilotbird specimen most likely came from the Brindabella Range on the western edge of the ACT. The Pilotbird is brown and small, about the size of a robin, and lives in the mountainous eucalypt forests of southeast Australia. It has a characteristic and melodious 'guinea-a-week' call. Often following the fresh scratchings of lyrebirds in search of food, the Pilotbird is so named because its call was known to give away the presence of lyrebirds to turn-of-the-century hunters seeking their treasured plumes. "The Pilotbird's story is just one of hundreds being uncovered by the ANWC," says Dr Schodde. "In our last study of Australia's songbirds, covering about half of our birdlife, the ANWC discovered over 40 kinds of birds that were new to science. "Understanding and conserving our unique animal life absolutely depends on this type of research. We must know what's out there and where and how it lives. Regional forms of birds, like the Brindabella form of the Pilotbird, are the building blocks of biodiversity." The Australian National Wildlife Collection is the official Commonwealth collection of Australia's vertebrate fauna. It is a representative sample of our terrestrial wildlife, covering 95% of our bird species, 75% of our mammals, 70% of our amphibians and 60% of our reptile species. The Collection is housed and maintained by CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems.
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