During an expedition to the highlands of New Britain at the end of 2023, our group not only took the first-ever photos of Rusty Thicketbird, but also made several intruiging observations Olive-backed Orioles at 1670m. While at first we thought we had discovered a new species, analysis of the photos indicates no significant differences from the standard Australia birds!

Eight sightings of the species over 24 hours spanning 800m of trail indicate maybe more than the two birds were involved. Both the photographed individuals were sub-adults, the same as Guy Dutson’s 900m record on New Britain in 1997 (the only previous record for Melanesia). One unseen bird heard singing. This “population” is presumably the migratory saggittatus ssp from Australia. An extremely strange place for multiple birds to be wintering when there are no records from the lowlands, or other islands in the region, or eastern Papua New Guinea!

Two different Olive-backed Oriole individuals photographed at 1670m on New Britain, 14th October 2023.

Olive-backed Oriole at 1670m on New Britain in flight. Photos by tour participants Cagan Sekercioglu and Thierry Quelennec.