birding-aus

Strange Cuckoo-shrike

To: "'Birding-Aus'" <>
Subject: Strange Cuckoo-shrike
From: Stephen Murray <>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:07:20 +1000
Thanks to all who replied to my query about the White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike.
It seems the dark morph birds do vary a bit and have been seen by everybody
except me! I really need to get out more.
Cheers Steve Murray

-----Original Message-----
From: 
 On Behalf Of Stephen Murray
Sent: Monday, 17 June 2013 5:22 PM
To: 'Birding-Aus'
Subject: Strange Cuckoo-shrike

Hello all.

 

This morning I was at Sheepstation Creek Conservation Park near Caboolture
in Queensland. Both White-bellied and Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes are common
here, and they are normally fairly easy to distinguish. One bird, however,
had me puzzled. At first I thought it was a regulation BFCS, but on closer
inspection it was more the size of a WBCS, has light half eye-ring (a
feature of WBCS), and, even though it has a darker area the shape of that of
a BFCS, if you look closely you can see a slightly darker facial mask area.
The bill looks too small for BFCS. Now, I realise there are dark morphs of
WBCS (which I've never seen), but I have only ever seen photos of birds with
a totally dark head. So, I have three questions:

 

1.       Do dark morph WBCS have gradations, or are they either all or
nothing?

2.       Do BFCS hybridise with WBCS?

3.       Have I been duped by a juvenile?

 

A rather ordinary photo  is here: http://www.pbase.com/image/150836159

 

Cheers Steve Murray

 

 

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