Unknown East Asian warbler in northwest Australia? (1 Viewer)

[anothergecko]

Hi all,

Adrian Boyle and I recorded these calls at an artificial wetland in the northwest of Australia (Derby, Western Australia). The bird was calling from reeds, and seen extremely briefly - dark streaks observed on the upperparts.

The local contenders are Australian Reed Warbler (unstreaked), Tawny Grassbird, Little Grassbird and Golden-headed Cisticola, but we don't believe the calls match any of these familiar species. We are considering whether it may be a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler (or similar), but if Pallas's, it would be the first mainland record for Australia (although there are a number of confirmed sightings from offshore islands along the northwest coast).

Is anyone familiar enough with the calls of East Asian/South-east Asian locustellids to comment? Recording available on this link ML632537544 - passerine sp. - Macaulay Library and also attached.

Cheers,

Nigel Jackett
Broome, Western Australia

 

[Bowerbirder]

Hi all,

Adrian Boyle and I recorded these calls at an artificial wetland in the northwest of Australia (Derby, Western Australia). The bird was calling from reeds, and seen extremely briefly - dark streaks observed on the upperparts.

The local contenders are Australian Reed Warbler (unstreaked), Tawny Grassbird, Little Grassbird and Golden-headed Cisticola, but we don't believe the calls match any of these familiar species. We are considering whether it may be a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler (or similar), but if Pallas's, it would be the first mainland record for Australia (although there are a number of confirmed sightings from offshore islands along the northwest coast).

Is anyone familiar enough with the calls of East Asian/South-east Asian locustellids to comment? Recording available on this link ML632537544 - passerine sp. - Macaulay Library and also attached.

Cheers,

Nigel Jackett
Broome, Western Australia

Comparing your recording with that of Pallas' G Warbler on CornellLab/BotW, the most similar sound made by Pallas' GW is higher pitched.

 

[anothergecko]

Comparing your recording with that of Pallas' G Warbler on CornellLab/BotW, the most similar sound made by Pallas' GW is higher pitched.

Thanks Bowerbirder. There are number of examples of Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler calls in the Macaulay Library of similar (or even slightly lower) pitch, e.g ML419476591 - Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler - Macaulay Library ML500232031 - Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler - Macaulay Library ML554469581 - Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler - Macaulay Library ML609740739 - Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler - Macaulay Library ML614139240 - Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler - Macaulay Library

 

[James Eaton]

Being very familiar with Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, I can confidently say it's not one, unfortunately. The harshness of the call would only be matched by Oriental Reed Warbler in a SEA context. Which doesn't sound much different to Australian/Clamorous taxa from Indonesia. To me, it's similar to the latter pair.

James

 

[anothergecko]

Being very familiar with Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, I can confidently say it's not one, unfortunately. The harshness of the call would only be matched by Oriental Reed Warbler in a SEA context. Which doesn't sound much different to Australian/Clamorous taxa from Indonesia. To me, it's similar to the latter pair.

James

Thanks James, that’s interesting. The calls seemed thinner, higher-pitched and had shorter intervals between notes than Australian Reed Warbler. The rapid eg triplets also seemed unusual for that taxon. Combined with the streaked upperparts (assuming the bird recorded was the same as that observed) it may remain a mystery I suspect. Cheers