Beautiful song

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heva1
heva1's picture
Beautiful song

Hi, I spotted this bird( one of a pair) in the forest, late afternoon so not the best lighting for a photo. It had a beautiful song. Flitted from tree to tree, I thought maybe a cuckoo shrike when I first saw it but not when I opened up the pic.... any ideas?

ed
ed's picture

Hi Hev
not a cuckoo-shrike,my first thought was whistler but can't really say for sure, any other pictures?

Ed Townsville NQ

heva1
heva1's picture

Hi Ed, well I do... but they are even more ordinary... and probably not much help. It was about thrush size, and now that you have said whistler... what do you think about an Olive Whsitler?

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

soakes
soakes's picture

Hmm... that last pic looks a bit like a grey shrike thrush, but the others don't... the colour looks wrong for an olive whistler - perhaps a female... ???

- soakes

soakes
Olinda, Victoria, Australia

DenisWilson
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Hi Heva

I believe it is a male Grey Shrike-thrush.
Beautiful song fits.
Male GST has white in front of eyes, just like your bird.
Dark beak, prominent eye.
You can see the photo of a male on BiBY site.
You can also listen tot he call there too.
http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/bird/17
Cheers
Denis

heva1
heva1's picture

Actually Grey shrike thrush is what I meant not cuckoo shrike. I was comparing it to a shot from Alice springs and one from Beaufort VIC

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

heva1
heva1's picture

Hi Denis... think we posted simulataneously there.... yes Grey shrike thrush (dunno why I typed Cuckoo-shrike at the start!) You helped me I.D. the second pic when I posted it as it was so different from the one I took in Alice I didn't realise they were both GST's. Thanks

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

timmo
timmo's picture

Hi heva,
.
I was going to suggest the same as these guys, having just been watching (and hearing) one out of the window of my office this morning.
.
They actually have at least several different calls/songs, only one of which is featured on the BiBY page Denis mentioned above. I heard at least 2 other calls - one a kind of fast trilling sound with a loud peep at the end, and another (slightly) similar to a whipbird but without the same whip-cracking sound at the end
.
Regards
Tim

Cheers
Tim
Brisbane

heva1
heva1's picture

Hi Tim, yes I'm pretty convinced it was a Grey Shrike Thrush. The voice was beautiful, and had a much bigger repertoire than the BiBY GST.

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

Anonymous

The Grey Shrike Thrushes are calling a lot around our area lately, and seem to have several different songs - most of which aren't on the BIBY or any other recording I've heard! It's really mainly the tone of their call that I can identify - so loud and clear and sort of echoy.....

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