Brown SongLark now a Grassbird

["Greg and Val Clancy" <>]

Mark,

Your bird matches the painting in HANZAB Volume 7 Part B opposite page 1720 
of a juvenile Little Grassbird, including the pale edging to the 
secondaries/tertials and the lack of marking on the throat.  I have photos 
of adult and juvenile Tawny Grassbirds that I could send you off list.  They 
have longer tails and are more rufous in the plumage.  The calls are a good 
way to distinguish them as well as the Little Grassbird has a mournful 
two-note plaintive song and the Tawny has a much more excited and rich 
display flight and bomb-dropping song as well as 'chuck chuck ' type contact 
calls.
Greg
Dr Greg. P. Clancy
Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide
PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460
0266493153  0429601960

-----Original Message----- 
From: Mark Young
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 1:11 PM
To: Nikolas Haass
Cc: Birding Aus
Subject: Brown SongLark now a Grassbird

Hi Nikolas,

I use the terms of calls and song interchangeably. That's very poor of
myself I know. But what I heard would be better described as a song. Now
that I think about it, I didn't see this bird make any noise, but I
assumed the noise/song I heard came from this bird as I could see no other
bird nearby.

Regards,
Mark



On Sunday, December 16, 2012, Nikolas Haass wrote:

> Looking at the last picture alone I would say Little Grassbird. In one of
> your earlier pictures there is also some streaking on the lower flanks. 
> You
> are saying call but what you are describing seems to be rather the song 
> and
> not a call? Can you describe that a bit more detailed?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Nikolas
>
> ----------------
> Nikolas Haass
>  <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', ;>
> Sydney, NSW
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* Mark and Amanda Young 
> <<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 
> ;>
> >
> *To:* 'Birding Aus' < <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> ;>>
> *Sent:* Saturday, December 15, 2012 8:20 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Birding-Aus] Brown SongLark now a Grassbird
>
> G'day everyone,
>
> Thanks to all those people who've replied about this bird. Most people 
> have
> said it's a Tawny Grassbird, but a few think it might be a Little
> Grassbird.
>
> There are a still points about this bird that have me confused. The white
> fringing on the tertials(?), the slight dark streaking to the crown, (as
> evident in the second image) and the dark line running through the eye 
> seem
> to suggest Little Grassbird.
> But the lack of streaking on the breast leads it towards a Tawny 
> Grassbird.
> Is it possible this might be a young bird, or a hybrid of the 2?
>
> When I saw this bird it was at the bottom of a small gully feeding in
> between some grasses. Not the sort of habitat I've seen Little Grassbirds
> in
> when I've seen them (which is no more than 10 times all up).
> What attracted me to it was it's call. I was looking in that area for
> Pipit's which are usually around there, when I heard the bird. I remember
> it
> having an attractive call with multiple notes. Sorry about the vagueness 
> on
> that point, but I don't remember anymore about it's call.
>
> Here's a link to another image showing the crown and back. I don't have a
> better photo of the breast that I could post.
> Link: http://bit.ly/ZtuImt
>
> Regards,
> Mark
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark and Amanda Young 
> <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 
> ;>]
> Sent: Friday, 14 December 2012 7:13 PM
> To: 'Birding Aus'
> Subject: RE: Brown Songlark
>
> G'aday everyone,
>
> I saw this small bird this morning at Long Reef Golf Course this morning. 
> I
> wasn't too sure what it was when I saw it in the field. I thought it might
> have been some unusual grassbird, but that didn't seem quite right. The
> underside and head reminded a bit of a Reed-warbler, but those upper
> feathers didn't seem right either for it to be a Reed-warbler.
>
> Now that I've gotten home and had a chance to look it up in Morcombe's, it
> looks very similar to a female Brown Songlark. But I've only ever seen a
> male Brown Songlark, and that was a few years ago, so I'm would love to 
> get
> the opinion of others as to what they think this bird might be.
>
> Link: http://bit.ly/TRM4D1
>
> Regards,
> Mark
>
>
>
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