Australia - Blue Mountains - Geewhizzit ?? (1 Viewer)

[Chosun Juan]

This has been nagging away at me for years - could someone please help me out with a positive id of this little geewhizzit :cat:



NSW, Lower Blue Mountains escarpment top shrubland, dry open sclerophyll forest, November, late afternoon.

Needless to say, it rarely sat still. Very small (palm of your hand). In a low (<1.5m) shrub. Hunting around for insects etc .......

Many thanks :t:





Chosun :gh:

 

[THE_FERN]

brown thornbill: red eye, brownish smudge on forehead, brown tail base, streaked breast.

 

[Chosun Juan]

That's the conclusion I was left with too, but it's the most un-brown Brown Thornbill? I have ever seen - that back is greyer than most other pictures I have seen.

It was on the eastern side of the mountains - elevation ~ 300m.

??



Chosun :gh:

 

[MikeMules]

A clear Brown Thornbill. Wrong area (closest eBird record is over 100km to the west of the Blue Mountains) and wrong coloration (particularly the forehead) for an Inland Thornbill, the only other one to confuse it with.

 

[Chosun Juan]

Strangely those records for Inland Thornbill are a long way west - I might have at least expected some around the Munghorn Gap region, and the Putty region.

I agree about the forehead cap colouration (mostly), but the very light olivey-grey back seems unusual, as does the amount of breast streaking, and would anyone comment on the large black band on the tail? (the tail seems to be held flat too at least in these photos)

Here are some more views of the same bird .....



Any advance ??





Chosun :gh: