WESTERN WHISTLER

Photographed in Dryandra State Forest, Western Australia, May 2015

623        WESTERN WHISTLER               Pachycephala occidentalis 

Australia               (466)

Formerly subspecies of Golden Whistler. Range: sw WA anywhere south of a line from Shark Bay to Cocklebiddy with a few east of the WA/SA border. Usually found in wetter forested areas with a thicker understory; also in coastal vegetation, especially if cover from peppermint trees; well-wooded reserves in wheat belt; also Rottnest Island.

This is what they call an 'armchair tick'. In when you have photographed birds all over the place and they then make one of the sub-species into a full species....so you add another tick to your list because you have already seen it, or in my case photographed it. The Western Whistler was considered a subspecies of the Australian Golden Whistler but recent DNA tests have made it a full species.

Photographed in Dryandra State Forest, Western Australia, May 2015

Photographed at Cheynne's Beach, Western Australia, May 2015

Photographed at Cheynne's Beach, Western Australia, May 2015