GILBERT'S WHISTLER

Photogrpahed at Terrick Terrick National Park, Victoria November 2015

729             GILBERT’S WHISTLER              Pachycephala inornata

Australia            (572)

Found in taller drier scrubs; woodlands with dense understorey; mallee-spinifex, cypress-pine, mulga, belar, buloke, coastal tee-tree; black box/lignum, broom honey myrtle. 19-20 cm. Range: from Warrumbungles NP-Cowra-Tocumwal (NSW), s to upper Murray R (Vic)- Chiltern-Nagambie (casual You Yangs), w to Wimmeraand mallee areas of nw Vic; in SA Murray mallee-flinders Ras to n Yorke Pen-Eyre., w. to Gawler Ras-Gt Victoria Desert; in s WA, through s W. Deserts, w and n to Menzies-Paynes Find-Yalgoo, s.to c. Northam-Narrogin-Albany. Uncommon. Sedentary or nomadic.

AUSTRALASIAN BITTERN

Photographed at Fiveborough Wetlands, Leeton, NSW November 2015 (at about 8 pm)

728          AUSTRALASIAN BITTERN        Botaurus poiciloptilus

Australia            (571)

Also called Australian or Brown Bittern. 66-76 cm; wingspan 1-1.2 m. Found in, or over, water in tall reed-beds, sedges, rushes, combungi, lignum, also rice fields; drains in tussocky paddocks; occasionally salt marsh, brackish wetlands. Seldom in trees. Range: coastal and sub-coastal se Aust., esp. Murray-Murrumbidgee region; se Tas., far s WA; casual Kimberley (WA). Sedentary, uncommon.

SHY HEATHWREN

Photographed at Nombinnie nature Reserve, NSW November 2015

727             SHY HEATHWREN              Hylacola cauta

Australia           (570)

Also called Mallee Heathwren. 11.5-14 cm. Found in mallee, cypress pine, heathy mallee/tea-tree. Range: mallee areas of w. NSW-nw Vict.-se SA (and Kangaroo Is, n to s. Flinders Ras.-Gawler Ras.; in s WA, n. to Kalgoolie-Murchison R.; except w. of Dongala-Stirling NP. Uncommon, sedentary.

INDIAN PEAFOWL

Photographed at Leichhardt Dam, near Mount Isa, Queensland October 2015

(see 263)               INDIAN PEAFOWL             Pavo cristatus

Nepal     (1),        Australia      (569)

Also known as Blue Peafowl and Common Peafowl; commonly the male is called Peacock and hen called Peahen. Range: it is native to south-east Asia but there are now small feral populations in many countries around the world where it has been introduced; in Australia small populations around settlements. It is the National bird of India. Found mainly on the ground in open forests or on cultivated ground. Male 2-2.3 m, including train; female c. 1 m.

MASKED OWL

Photographed near Atherton, Queensland October 2015

726              MASKED OWL            Tyto novaehollandiae

Australia            (568)

Found in forest; open woodlands, farmlands with large trees, e.g. river red gums, adjacent cleared country; partly forested coastal plains in Vic.; timbered watercourses, paperbark, woodlands, caves. 33-35 cm. Female larger. Range: coastal mainland Aust., widespread but very sparse. Race: melvillensis more common on Bathurst Island, Melville Island (NT); Race: castanets in Tasmania, fairly common and widespread. Sedentary.

Photographed in Tasmania, May 2022

SANDSTONE SHRIKE-THRUSH

Photographed at Duwadarri Lookout, Boodjamulla National Park, Queensland October 2015

725            SANDSTONE SHRIKE-THRUSH             Colluricincla woodwardi

Australia          (567)

Found in sandstone escarpments/gorges. 24-26 cm. Range: from escarpments of “Gulf fall” in far nw Q, Kakadu NP and Litchfield  Ck NP (NT), to w. Kimberley (WA), s. to region of Fitroy Crossing. Common in suitable habitat.

ARAFURA FANTAIL

Photographed at Adel's Grove, Lawn Hill, Queensland October 2015

724            ARAFURA FANTAIL               Rhipidura dryas

Australia           (566)

Also known as Wood Fantail. Similar to the Rufous but now a species on its own. Found in mangroves, riverine forests of melaleuca, pandanus; monsoon rainforest and vine thickets. 16 cm, wingspan to c. 21 cm. Range: Banda-Arafura Arch. -Lesser Sunda Is., s. New Guinea and n. Aust. Coastal n. Aust. from Yampi Sound (WA) to w. Cape York, n. to Aurukun (Q). Sedentary.

Darwin, January 2024

BUFF-SIDED ROBIN

Photographed at Boodjamulla national Park, Queensland October 2015

723          BUFF-SIDED ROBIN            Poecilodryas cerniventris

Australia            (565)

Was sub-species of White-browed Robin. Found mainly in riverine gallery forest, monsoon rainforest, deciduous vine scrubs, bamboo and pandanus thickets. 15-17 cm. Range: from Gregory R. in Gulf lowlands (Q), w. on middle to low reaches of rivers, marginally to mangroves, to w. Kimberley region and upper Fitroy R. (WA). Locally, patchy, generally uncommon. Declined in Kimberley due to destruction of waterside thickets by cattle and burning.

Photographed at Adel's Grove, Lawn Hill, Queensland October 2015

VARIED LORIKEET

Photographed at Running Creek, near Lawn Hill National Park, Queensland October 2015

722          VARIED LORIKEET            Psitteuteles versicolor

Australia           (564)

Found in tropical eucalypt, paperbark woodlands, flowering trees on foothills and coastal plains; trees on watercourses nd in grasslands. 17-20 cm. Range: tropical n. Aust., and coastal islands, from Kimberley (WA), Top End (NT), e. to n. -c. Q and w. Cape York Pen.; exceptionally e., to Atherton region (N. Q); good seasons inland cause irregular inland movement to Channel country of sw. Q. and elsewhere. Common Top End and Kimberley (WA); less common Q. Nomadic, irregular.

RUFOUS-THROATED HONEYEATER

Photographed at Cumberland Dam, north Queensland October 2015

721         RUFOUS-THROATED HONEYEATER           Canopophila rufogularis

Australia        (563)

Found near water; paperbarks, mangroves, scrublands, grassed woodlands; river red gum thickets; gardens, street trees. 13-14 cm. Range: coastal n. Aust.; from c. Broome (WA) to Cape York Pen. (n. to Embley Ra., c. 80 kms inland of Weipa); inland part of Atherton Tableland, s. to Ayr (Q); casual s. to Gympie-Fraser Is. Common in n. patchy e. coast. Blossom nomad.