This morning on the northern side of Mulligan's Flat, I heard Pied
Butcherbird calling. Following the sound I found 2 adult Pied
Butcherbirds that immediately departed the scene in an eastward
direction towards the Pipeline Rd. I met Harvey Perkins and while we
were walking along the northern boundary track in search of the
butcherbirds, we came upon a distinctive female Whistler of unfamiliar
appearence.
My first impression was that it might be an Olive Whistler but the back
and wings were clearly grey. I had seen maybe a dozen (brown plumage)
Golden Whistlers during the morning and even more Rufous Whistlers so I
had fresh images of these in mind. To my eye the bird was on the large
side for Golden Whistler and small for Olive Whistler. The bill was
black and appeared quite stout. I proposed that it was a female
Gilbert's Whistler. We watched the bird for several minutes and I paid
particular attention to the vent to see if it had the typical yellow
spot on the cloaca of Golden Whistler. No yellow was seen.
Obviously, this was a challenging identification problem in its own
right and Gilbert's Whistler has not been recorded in the ACT
previously. The bird was along the northern boundary track between the
pine windbreak and the Pipeline Road. I leave you to draw your own
conclusions.
Milburn
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