Hi all,
Yesterday I spent about 30 seconds watching what looked like a female Red-capped Robin - but the map in the bird book makes it look like I'm just a bit too far south to expect to see one.
The sighting was in suburban Melbourne, Bundoora specifically. The bird was in a very small stand of trees (acacias and the occasional casuarina) in a grassland area alongside Darebin Creek (quite an exposed site, but there is more treecover on the other side of the creek, not too far off).
The bird, as near as I can remember, was majority grey on the wings and back and white/very pale underneath, with a definite red patch on its "forehead". Eye and bill were both black, and the bill was just a bit longer than the distance from eye to bill-base.
I didn't get any photos, sadly, but looked up 'Red-capped Robin' when I got home and this photo looks very much like what I recall: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2180/2360097109_84409e732e.jpg?v=0
Is there anything else this could have been, that looks similar? Is it completely unreasonable of me to think I've seen a Red-capped Robin in Melbourne?
Hope someone can help me confirm or deny my bird's identity, and whether I should report it as an unusual sighting!
Hespa
Hi Hespa an outside chance! Try Rose Robin
Rose Robin doesn't have the red patch on the head though, which was very distinctive - if not for that I would have written it off as another grey-brown miscellaneous...
Could it have gotten the red patch from a feeding activity or something? I know honeyeaters can have misleading yellow on their faces caused by pollen.