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Black-tailed whistler ID confirmation please (1 Viewer)

tcollins

Well-known member
I have included two images of what I have tentatively identified as the mangrove whistler or black tailed whistler. These where taken in the mangroves at the edge of the elizabeth river south of Darwin in the NT. Definitely a whistling voice and it appeared to be a female and an immature although these are shots of the female. There is no data base image of this bird.
 

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Tim Allwood said:
bit like a Little shrike thrush

Rufous Whistler?

The races vary a bit and i haven't got refs to hand but it's a start...

nice place, the NT!

Tim

Thanks Tim Yep I thought of both of those but the mangrove habitat pushes me towards the mangrove golden whistler. Still happy to hear from all with ideas particularly those with experience of these species. Yep good place for birds the NT about 250 or so nearby ie top end.

Ps after posting this I went and had another look at the shots and my book. I am now thinking perhaps they are the white-breasted whistler Pachycephala Lanoides which my book tells me has a habitat very similar to the place I saw them.The streaking on the breast suggests whitbreasted. Here are a couple more images 4b is the immature bird.
Thanks again
 

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Nice pictures, should be easy... not...

White-breasted Whistler has a huge bill, which this one doesn't.
I'd say Grey (= Brown) Whistler (P. simplex)... I do not have that much to go on, but at least the birds in New Guinea look quite similar (and I like the illustrations in that book more than in Simpson and Day).
I checked everything else that could look like it, but nothing made sense: http://www.aviceda.org/abid/search.php?keyword=whistler
 
Xenospiza said:
Nice pictures, should be easy... not...

White-breasted Whistler has a huge bill, which this one doesn't.
I'd say Grey (= Brown) Whistler (P. simplex)... I do not have that much to go on, but at least the birds in New Guinea look quite similar (and I like the illustrations in that book more than in Simpson and Day).
I checked everything else that could look like it, but nothing made sense: http://www.aviceda.org/abid/search.php?keyword=whistler

I thought about the grey whistler but it looks plumper and certainly more brown than those few I've seen in the area. Thanks for the idea.
 
I have sent the images to my local birding guru Niven Mcrie and he is pretty confident they are little shrike thrush and the whistler I heard was probably deeper in the mangroves. So a good get Tim thanks to all for there contributions.
 
Xenospiza said:
Nice pictures, should be easy... not...

White-breasted Whistler has a huge bill, which this one doesn't.
I'd say Grey (= Brown) Whistler (P. simplex)... I do not have that much to go on, but at least the birds in New Guinea look quite similar (and I like the illustrations in that book more than in Simpson and Day).
I checked everything else that could look like it, but nothing made sense: http://www.aviceda.org/abid/search.php?keyword=whistler

I think TC is right - Colluricincla.

Xeno, you had a good idea and I checked it out pretty thoroughly (have quite a few photos of simplex from PNG if you want them). They show birds having a much more conspicuous white supercilium. The bill in comparison can be distinguished as the simplex bill while massive appears to be stubbier, having the nares slightly more displaced toward the culmen and with the upper mandible taking a distinct downcurve towards the bill tip - also blackish primaries and russet colored secondaries. So, this just to get as much as possible out of this thread...
 
Must admit it doesn't look like any Little Shrike-Thrush from SE Qld, take a look at this recent one from the ABID
http://www.aviceda.org/abid/birdimages.php?p=6&action=birdimage&bid=1144&fid=69&pagesize=1


Haven't seen Mangrove Golden Whistler (Black-tailed W) yet but this looks more like a Whistler than a Shrike-thrush to me, (however I know that LSTH varies considerably around Oz.)

female White-breasted Whistler here:
http://www.aviceda.org/abid/birdimages.php?action=birdimage&bid=1142&fid=69&p=4&pagesize=1

Tom





cuckooroller said:
I think TC is right - Colluricincla.

Xeno, you had a good idea and I checked it out pretty thoroughly (have quite a few photos of simplex from PNG if you want them). They show birds having a much more conspicuous white supercilium. The bill in comparison can be distinguished as the simplex bill while massive appears to be stubbier, having the nares slightly more displaced toward the culmen and with the upper mandible taking a distinct downcurve towards the bill tip - also blackish primaries and russet colored secondaries. So, this just to get as much as possible out of this thread...
 
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Hi Tom,
I am back to getting more confused again - have not figured this one out. Maybe TC might permit the photos to being sent through the ozbirdpix list. Maybe a larger collective brain from Oz might nail down these photos as to first genus and then species.
 
Hi All,

I would vote in the Colluricincla megarhyncha camp myself based on the following features:

To start with, there are relatively few choices based on location. They've all been mentioned. White-breasted Whistler, Grey Whistler, Mangrove Golden Whistler, and Little (Rufous) Shrike-thrush.

My impression of Grey Whistler is that it is a slimmer, smaller-billed bird than the mystery subject, and lacks ochraceous color to underparts. The few images of White-breasted Whistler (alas, a bird I've yet to see in life) show a bird with a thicker bill than the subject bird, and again with paler ground color to underparts, and thinner, more sharply defined streaking to underparts. They also don't seem to show particularly paler, contrasty lores. Mangrove Golden Whistler is more yellowish below, and without the paler lores, and lacks the delicate breast streaking visible on the mystery bird. I think it is also shorter billed than the subject bird. On the other hand, Little Shrike-thrush fits pretty well, so long as one considers the subspecies involved. Birds from the Top End parvula differ from those Tom would see in s.e. Queensland, in having a dark bill. The bill shape matches well with photos and illustrations of parvula, and the ochraceous tones to underparts, breast streaking, and paler lores also seem to fit as well.

Chris
 
Hi Steve,
Had time to check through the field-guides and must admit it appears that Little Shrike-Thrush race parvula fits the (black) bill! (....and if Niven McCrie thinks it's that there must be something in it!)
Must check them out when I'm in the Top-End next!
Tom
 
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