Hi Mark,
Thanks for your inquiry. I’m certain it wasn’t a Grey Shrike-thrush. I’ve never seen a Grey Shrike-thrush in our yard in over 30 years. Nonetheless, overall I’ve seen
more Grey Shrike- thrush than Golden Whistlers.
I base my identification of the grey bird on its prominent dark eye and stubby bill which strikes me as quite different from the ‘shrikish’ bill of the G S-t. Besides
it appeared to be the right shape and size for a Golden Whistler. Can’t think what else it could have been.
John
G’day John,
Are you sure the bird was a female Golden Whistler? In all my years of bird watching and banding I don’t think I have ever seen a GW on the ground. What surprised me even more was that it went back to the ground
after the moggie had departed. Are you sure it wasn’t a Grey Shrike-thrush, a bird that does spend a lot of time foraging on the ground?
Mark
From: John Layton
Sent: Thursday, 18 June 2015 4:52 PM
To: Canberra Birds
Subject: [canberrabirds] Michelin Man thwarted
It wasn’t raining at the time although the grass was sopping wet but this didn’t deter Michelin Man, fattest cat in all Fat Cat City (I understand his owners call him
Pussums). As I looked out the back door MM was bellying along ever so slowly, attention riveted on a nondescript grey bird pecking around in leaf litter 10 metres away. I eased the door open and hurled a tennis ball at his ample rump. A satisfying plop told
me I’d found my mark.
MM leapt away towards the gap beneath the gate, paused to gesture rudely with a forepaw before undergoing a tight squeeze and streaked away to where people call him Pussums
and don’t bounce balls off his overly-padded posterior.
The nondescript grey bird was still present although it had withdrawn to the comparative safety of a shrub. A few moments later it was back in the leaf litter. I turned
to She-Who-Must-Obey and requested my binos. When I glassed the bird I positively identified it as a female Golden Whistler so don’t need to ask about Canberra’s- most-asked-about this time.
John Layton
HOLT
