There was a good number of bush birds this morning at the Namadgi Visitors Centre, as the haze cleared under the sun. A group of about 15 Dusky Woodswallows was very active, and included several fledged young. The most interesting sighting was a single Diamond Firetail.
There was also a slim brown bird that I couldn’t identify. It was active in the canopy of the open woodland, but flew down to the shrub layer at times. A little smaller than the woodswallows, which it associated with briefly, and slimmer – say 16 cm? Head, shoulders and (especially) wings were mottled/scalloped/patterned brown; breast and belly were very pale, with faint streaks on the throat. Faint brown eye-line. Tail was clearly notched and rounded (a better description is that both halves of the tail, either side of the notch, were rounded). No other distinguishing features.
Female/immature White-winged Triller is a possibility, but the patterning wasn’t restricted to the wing-coverts, and the tail doesn’t seem to fit. There was a male White-winged Triller feeding on the ground some distance away. Female Rufous Songlark is another possibility, but that’s a bird I don’t know, and I couldn’t see any reddening on the rump, although some web images do show a notched tail . Do Rufous Songlarks spend time in the canopy? Or can anyone suggest a third possibility?
Steve
