I snuck out early this morning with a camera and finally managed to find
it again about 5 minutes before I had to get home to get ready for work.
That meant I didn't have time to try to get good, close shots, and had
to just take what I could get.
I assume it's the same bird, because it was doing the same things in
exactly the same location, but this time I'd say it was brown above and
light grey below. Perhaps the light was different last time for my
first glimpse. I was also wearing glasses, rather than the trial
contact lenses I was wearing when I first saw it - I might start a
thread about that.
The bill was small, straight and fine and I think I saw a suggestion of
a light brow, so I'm thinking now that it must be a non-breeding male
White-winged Triller. Not sure how that fits in with having a couple of
males nearby in breeding plumage. I it usual to have a mix of plumages
around?
The big problem is the white edges I thought I saw on the tail. I saw
this again, but it's very fine and I'm wondering if it could just be
early morning light glinting off the edge. Has anyone seen that happen?
If anyone could please try to confirm the id for me, the four blurry
photos are at:
m("N00","//www.flickr.com/photos/29752866");">http:
The 3rd photo (0936c) kind of shows the white edge on the tail.
Other interesting birds that were around:
Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo
Baillon's Crake
Song Thrush - the first I've seen here.
Peter Shute
wrote on Monday, 8 October 2007 9:43
PM:
> I saw a new bird near Mt St Joseph pond in Altona, Vic,
> yesterday, and I can't work out what it was.
>
> It was about 20cm long. Eyes, bill and legs were black. Its
> body was basically grey above, and white below, although I
> decided after a while that maybe it wasn't grey, but kind of
> brown. Cap and nape were darker than its back. No memory or
> record of bill size or shape (good one!), but nothing extreme like a
> finch or spinebill.
>
> Primaries were black, secondaries were black but edged white.
> I think that's right, but I have trouble telling primaries
> from secondaries and coverts when the wing is folded.
> Primaries were occasionally held below tail level
>
> Tail was black, edged white with white corners, and brown
> down the centre. I think it was probably square, as I didn't
> record anything about shape (or length). Don't think I got a
> look under it. There was no tail wagging.
>
> It was sitting low to the ground on one dead thistle for a
> while, before moving on to the next. The ground it was
> covering was mostly grass, thistles and low shrubs. Not much higher
> than 0.5m.
>
> I thought I had plenty of detail recorded, but of course
> there's nothing in the books like it. The closest I can see are:
> - Non-breeding male White-winged Triller. Right size, but
> they don't have white-edged tail, and I don't recall a brow.
> Also, there was a male triller close by in breeding plumage,
> and possibly a female. Neither looked like this, and they
> were mostly around the tree tops.
> - Jacky Winter. Too small, no white tail corners, as above
> for the brow.
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