pls ID

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daggert
daggert's picture
pls ID

First does anybody know this little one.
Also are they M and F versions or different species. I ask this because of the eyering.

DenisWilson
DenisWilson's picture

Hi Daggert
It looks like one of the Thornbills. In the south-east corner of the large land of ours, I would be thinking Buff-tailed TB. But there are many related species, depending on your locality.
Sorry, but I forget where you are.
I don't mean to be grumpy, but it always help to add a few words about locality and habitat, which can help others work out what we are looking at.
Cheers
Denis

Gelmir
Gelmir's picture

LBB's are the hardest! I imagine I'm not the only one who has a folder called Unknown LBB with hundred of different photo's of unidentified LBB's.
I'll have a look at my guide's at home, but just going on what you've posted, I would say that they are possibly 2 different species.

daggert
daggert's picture

I take your point Denis, but I am rather useless at describing habitat! The bush is light eucalypt forest with parrot bush predominant.
it is not thick forest. We have yellow rumped and inland thornbills.
I am from WA so I guess it is the western thornbill that has the eye ring. I cant really find any good pics of it to be sure. The bird book I have hasnt got all that good a picture
Would that eyering be described as a pale eye?
Now I just need to work out the other one without an eyering.
Would we rule out the Weebill because the beak is too big?

daggert
daggert's picture


A more recent pic of eyering LBB ( I love that acronym)

and the other one.
if not a Weebill I am thinking juvi inland thornbill?

daggert
daggert's picture



..
both closer.
Is cropping when you have a subject in the middle of the page and you zoom in and cut out the rest of the picture?
If so how do you do that? I do mine a round-a-bout way to get the same results.

DenisWilson
DenisWilson's picture

Hi Daggert

Check out Birdpedia. You can do a search by common name.
This is their description if the I.T.
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Adults: Sexes alike. Above, generally rich olive-brown to brownish-grey. Rump, rufous-brown. Wings, darker grey-brown, with paler edges. Tail, dark grey-brown with black subterminal band and grey-buff to white tips on inner webs of all but the central pair of feathers. Face, flecked olive- to pale-grey, scalloped white on forehead. Below, cream- to pure-white grading to olive-brown, or grey on flanks and undertail. Throat, breast clearly to heavily streaked grey-black. Eye, red. Bill, black. Feet, dusky brown.
Immatures: As adults but duller.
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Habitat
Dry scrubs, woodlands. In south-west Western Australia, wetter forests, coastal scrubs, heaths, mangroves.
http://www.birdpedia.com/au/bi.dll/bipu02?m=006&id505=M000005822
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Clearly, from these notes, the Inland Thornbill is a relative of the Brown Thornbill (an east-coast bird, but well documented), and it might help you sort out something.
Brown Thornbills have a prominent dark red-brown eye, and a relatively long tail. They prefer heavier country than the other Thornbills (over here).

Western Thornbill has a grey eye !!! That's like your paler fluffed out specimen, facing camera.
Adults: Sexes alike. Above, plain olive-grey. Wings and tail, duskier grey. Tail feathers tipped narrowly buff except the central pair. Forehead, scalloped. Face, flecked with buff-white. Below, buff-cream, flecked faintly grey at sides of breast. Eye, greyish white. Bill, dusky, paler below. Feet, dusky grey.
Immatures: As adults. Duller with obscure forehead markings.
Range: restricted to South-western Australia, extending north to Moora and east to the Stirling Ranges.
Habitat: Tall forests to open woodlands. Coastal scrubs.
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I think your side-on image is a juvenile bird. The eye is darker than the first bird, but still a grey eye, definitely not a red eye. Also, there are pale fawn marks on the wing which suggest new feathers still developing, further suggesting it is an immature bird. Probably the same species as the other.
Therefore most likely to both be Western Thornbills, in my opinion. 1 Adult, 1 juvenile.
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http://www.birdpedia.com/au/bi.dll/bipu02?m=006&id505=M000005825
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Clearly, from these notes, the Western Thornbill is a relative of the Buff-rumped Thornbill. Again, that's another eastern species, but well documented, including with call files. Our "Buffy" likes dry scrub, and grassy hillsides.
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There are sound files of their calls on both those Birdpedia links. Click on the music note symbol.
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I can say for sure that it is NOT a Weebill. The tail is too long, the beak too finely pointed.
Check out this image from the COG Gallery (Canberra)
http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/images/Weebill2_Cook.jpg
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Re "cropping" - in some photo editing programs, the crop tool cuts the part of the image you select, removing everything else. In Photoshop, it unfortunately, then resizes the image, considerably. You ought aim to re-size the cropped image to no more than the original pixel rating. Otherwise, you get bad pixellation. I find the "marquee" tool, which copies any part of the image you select, at the same (original) pixellation, is safer to use. To do that, I identify the image section I wish to keep, then "copy/create new file/paste".
What you have done has worked fine, even if it seems a bit of a long way round. But do experiment with the Crop tool, and see what happens.
Word of warning, never "lose" your original image. If all else fails, and you panic, click "undo". Or if asked to save changes to your file, (before closing) say NO. I always use "Save as" (not "save" which will alter your orignal image). Use "Save As", and give file a new name "Inland Thornbill crop.jpg" or IT1, whatever.
Hope all this helps.
Denis

daggert
daggert's picture

Thanks Denis, as usual you are a wealth of info!
I will check out that site further.

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