birding-aus

help with Top End grassbird and whistler?

To: Janine Duffy <>
Subject: help with Top End grassbird and whistler?
From: Allan Richardson <>
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2013 13:41:59 +1000
Hi Janine,

Your Grassbird looks like a Cisticola for mine - the jizz is more in keeping of 
Cisticola. The underparts are buffy yellow in keeping with Cisticola and it 
doesn't have the white eyebrow of a grassbird. I think the colouration on the 
neck and cap also have that more yellow colouration of a cisticola. Also notice 
how the colouration on the cap is similar to the nape and back of the head, 
there should be a demarcation in cap/rear head colouration on a grassbird.

Your second bird is difficult to pick from the photos - but its more slender 
form, particularly the bill is pushing me toward a honeyeater not a whistler - 
I'd say an immature Rufous-throated is a likely candidate.

Kind Regards,

Allan Richardson
Morisset NSW

On 08/09/2013, at 12:10 PM, Janine Duffy wrote:

> Hey all
> 
> I hope someone with a good knowledge of Top End birds can help!
> 
> I am struggling with two birds I saw on our September 2011 Kakadu trip.  Both 
> at Mamukala Billabong on the long walk.  First I think is a Tawny Grassbird 
> in a pandanus - see pics here: picasaweb  Tail seems too long for a cisticola 
> (I know they can have longer tails at times but it still seems too long).  
> Legs and feet are pinkish, and beak appears to have a touch of pink as well, 
> which I don't think a Grassbird should have.  Maybe it's just the light or 
> the poor quality of the pic. 
> 
> Second I think is a Grey Whistler, but possibly a young one, in a Coral Tree 
> Erythrina variegata .  Picture suggests it has the white stripe on the wing 
> edge (alula?), but seems to have a pale yellowish base of bill and some dark 
> streaks on wing coverts.  
> 
> Unfortunately I don't have any other information, only these photos.  This 
> was all on my second trip to the NT, and I probably missed clues like sound, 
> size, that I would pick up now. 
> 
> Thanks in advance for your help!
> 
> Janine
> -- 
> JANINE DUFFY Director Marketing ECHIDNA WALKABOUT PO Box 370 Port Melbourne,  
> Victoria  3207  AUSTRALIA
> E:      Web: www.echidnawalkabout.com.au 
> Ph: +61 (0)3 9646 8249    Mob: +61 (0)427 808 747 Fax: +61 (0)3 9681 9177 
> OPERATIONS & GROUP enquiries contact:  Roger Smith Director Operations A.B.N. 
>  72 716 985 505
> 
> ===============================
> 
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to: 
> 
> http://birding-aus.org
> ===============================

===============================

To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 

http://birding-aus.org
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU