Bird ID please (1 Viewer)

[icyvovo]

Took this today, terrible photo I know, but I think it's a Golden Whistler maybe. Can anyone confirm or tell me what it is?

Thanks

 

[delia todd]

Hi icyvovo and a warm welcome from all the Staff and Moderators.

If you saw this one in Adelaide, you're OK with Golden Whistler. The other one is Western Whistler, found in Western Australia. Beautiful birds and song. A great picture that too.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[icyvovo]

Hi icyvovo and a warm welcome from all the Staff and Moderators.

If you saw this one in Adelaide, you're OK with Golden Whistler. The other one is Western Whistler, found in Western Australia. Beautiful birds and song. A great picture that too.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

Thanks Delia, it was indeed Adelaide, so Golden Whistler it is!

Not sure about news, only decided to look into this birding thing a few days ago, so just about everything is news to me at the moment!

 

[SteveClark]

If Adelaide, wouldn't the taxa be P. fuliginosa fuliginosa, Western Whistler? See Joseph et al. 2020 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01584197.2020.1854047).

 

[icyvovo]

If Adelaide, wouldn't the taxa be P. fuliginosa fuliginosa, Western Whistler? See Joseph et al. 2020 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01584197.2020.1854047).

Excellent question, I have no clue. I looked at your link, and it does suggest the Western Whistler is not as limited to the west as other sites suggest but without downloading and reading the paper itself it doesn't really give me any more clues. And the limited sighting and poor picture don't really help either!

I have set up a "Not 100% ID'd" tag in my catalogue, might give it one of those as well

For bird ID I'm using eBird, an old (1993!) copy of the Simpson and Day Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. If unclear from there Googling my little heart out.

As you seem to be quite knowledgeable, are there other, more reliable resources than eBird you could recommend?

Many thanks!

 

[delia todd]

If Adelaide, wouldn't the taxa be P. fuliginosa fuliginosa, Western Whistler? See Joseph et al. 2020 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01584197.2020.1854047).

Aaaah!!!! I think you're right Steve. Trust me to wade in with my size 6 wellies, going on memory instead of looking it up!!

I've just checked the Clements Check-list and that is what it says for that subspecies:

South central Australia (southeastern South Australia and western Victoria)​

Thanks for putting us right lad.

 

[SteveClark]

From my limited understanding the males are nearly impossible to pick. The tail patterning is not a consistent separator apparently. Best to look at females: Western Whistler females "lower breast, belly and vent are pale to rich russet" and Golden Whistler (ssp. youngi) underparts grey except for some yellow around vent.

The situation in western Victoria is poorly understood as both may occur and seasonal movements muddle things further. There is a great discussion on the Facebook Group Australian Bird Taxonomy

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Both IOC and Clements now recognise ssp fuliginosa as Western Whistler.

The best field guide currently is The Australian Bird Guide by Menkhorst et al. (Revised edition).

If you are just starting out can I recommend Scythebill software for keeping your sightings records? It is free, does Clements and IOC and is regularly updated to the latest taxonomies. www.scythebill.com.

All the best
Steve