From Opus

Alternative names: Black-throated Whipbird; Coachwhip-bird

Psophodes nigrogularis

Includes Mallee Whipbird

[edit] Identification

19-25.5cm.

• Grey head and crest
• Pale olive upperparts
• Black throat
• White cheek stripes, edged with black (fully in nigrogularis, only partly in leucogaster)
• Long dark olive-green tail tipped with white
• Pale olive underparts
• Black bill and feet

Sexes similar. Juveniles are a duller olive-brown in colour and lack the white cheek stripes and dark throat.

[edit] Distribution

Locally in south west and southern Australia.
Restricted-range species. Considered near-threatened as range has contracted owing to habitat clearance.

[edit] Taxonomy

Clements recognises four subspecies:

• P. n. nigrogularis at Two Peoples Bay in southern Western Australia
• P. n. oberon in the mallee heaths of soutwest Western Australia
• P. n. leucogaster on the Yorke Peninsula and Murray Mallee in southeast South Australia and northwest Victoria
• P. n. lashmari on Kangaroo Island

Leucogaster, lashmari and oberon are split by some authorities and named Mallee Whipbird, Psophodes leucogaster.

[edit] Habitat

Mallee eucalyptus, heath, shrubland or acacia vegetation, often near coasts.

[edit] Behaviour

They feed by foraging on the ground for invertebrates. The diet includes caterpillars, ants and beetles, as well as spiders.
Shy and elusive.
Breeding season from July to October. They build a cup-shaped nest out of twigs, bark, grass and other vegetation in a dense shrub close to the ground; 2 pale blue eggs are laid.
Resident species.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2007. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553422
3. Simpson, K and N Day. 1998. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-4877-5

• List of references

[edit] External Links

• View more images of this species on the ABID