ID challenge 2

39 posts / 0 new
Last post
Windhover
Windhover's picture
ID challenge 2

Since a few passionate members asked for more ID challenges, here is one. What is this?

Windhover
Windhover's picture

Windhover
Windhover's picture

It's odd, the HTML tags didn't work in the previous two panes. If you cannot see the image above this line, copy the below into a new browser window.

http://amatteroflight.com/gallery2/d/5213-1/ID+challenge+2.jpg

Gelmir
Gelmir's picture

I think I know this one, but I'll let others have a go before jumping in.

Gelmir
Gelmir's picture

BTW, this is fun Akos. I hope you've got more once these are done.

Owen1
Owen1's picture

nothing springs to mind immediately but is it some sort of shrike thrush or whistler?
BTW.. these ID challenges are great Akos.

Cheers, Owen.

Windhover
Windhover's picture

Thanks Mark and Owen. If you know it Mark e-mail it to me.

Owen, none of those. :)

birdie
birdie's picture

I am useless at baby birds ....they all look the same to me :)
Do I have them up here?

Sunshine Coast Queensland

Araminta
Araminta's picture

Do I see some stripes appearing on that tiny tail?

M-L

Araminta
Araminta's picture

It has a very chunky beak for a juvenile, is the beak growing into a black, rather big beak? (Any clues?)

M-L

Araminta
Araminta's picture

Could it grow up to be a Cuckoo-shrike? (Yellow-eyed,as the juveniles have a whitish-grey breast? Or a White-bellied, as their breast vary from white to grey?And the young have those round black eyes.

M-L

ed
ed's picture

Hi Windhover
Very young MB??

Ed Townsville NQ

Windhover
Windhover's picture

No, no, no, no and no. :)

BTW Ed, you mean Mistletoebird? No.

Just for everyone adding their bird species comments:

It would be great to state the name you think it is in full so that others reading who may not be bird-brained (LOL) enough to work out from two letters can also get an idea of what or what not. :) Thanks! :)

Wanda
Wanda's picture

Not so good with ID's but I am guessing a Bell Miner.

Windhover
Windhover's picture

Wanda has the kind of group in a way. While Bell Miner it isn't, they are related to birds that feed on nectar etc.. Hint.

Wanda
Wanda's picture

Just one more try for me it is addictive. Maybe a White-naped Honeyeater.

Gelmir
Gelmir's picture

I was thinking Mistletoebird, but now that you've excluded that from being a possibility, and with your last hint, the only bird I can think of with this sort of bill as a juvie is a Fuscous HE.

Wanda
Wanda's picture

Hi Gelmir boy that was my other choice the Fuscous HE but decided to go with the White-naped HE.

Windhover
Windhover's picture

Not Fuscous, not White-naped. Not a Mistletoebird. :( Warm, but I am still freezing here. :) Know what I mean? Another hint.

Males and females look totally different (color wise that is). And their calls are high-pitched squeaks. Kind of musical and very pretty. I can whistle it, but what's the point? LOL!

ed
ed's picture

Following the clues and eliminating the 'not thats' I come to a (red breasted?)Robin but as they are few and far between up here in NQ that's the best I can do.

Ed Townsville NQ

Tazrandus
Tazrandus's picture

Scarlet Honeyeater?
Seems to fit all the criteria :)

Taz

george
george's picture

noisy miner

Windhover
Windhover's picture

And the (non-existent) prize goes to TAZ! Yes, well done.

Don't know how you figured it out, but it is a Scarlet Honeyeater fledgling I photographed on Australia Day 2009 along Glenbrook Creek, Blaxland. At first I could almost touch the male bird he was so close, but I couldn't get a photo of him. Then this little one came down and sat near us while mum and dad brought food for him/her.

cheers!

Wanda
Wanda's picture

Wow clever Taz!
For Windhover, I am just a little confused and as I said I am not so good with ID's but his beak keeps throwing me off as I cannot see that it is the same as a Scarlet HE.

Does the juvie's beak change that much as it gets older?

His/her little beak is so chubby and does not to appear to be long and pointy like the Scarlet HE.

It is just a question from someone who is not so good at this but likes a challenge.

PS I know you are right as you were sitting right there when the parents fed it.

birdie
birdie's picture

I was wondering all the same things Wanda. I had come up with the SHE in my mind, but didn't know enough about how a juvey changes either !
Next challenge acn we have something older please!!!! LOL

Well done Taz :')

Sunshine Coast Queensland

Araminta
Araminta's picture

.....that makes three of us. Earlier in the challenge you will find, that I asked that question about the beak being so chunky.(might just be the angle of the photo?) The other problem with photos is, hard to tell, if you don't know how big the bird is?

M-L

Owen1
Owen1's picture

wow you guys are good. i would never have guessed scarlet honeyeater!

Cheers, Owen.

birdie
birdie's picture

Ha ha ..... not that good except for Taz Owen :')

I went through every HE in my S & D and came up with that as one of the only ones that has totally different colours between male and female and fitted other criteria .
Oh well... it made me research the genre at least !

Sunshine Coast Queensland

raysimula
raysimula's picture

I'm surprised to find out it is a Scarlet HE? It does not look like a HE beak. Has anybody considered it could be some kind of Cuckoo. It is hard to tell how big it is, which may rule out a Cuckoo anyway.
Ray

Araminta
Araminta's picture

Yes, I did raysimula, (06-Apr. 6.38,and 06-Apr.8.14 ), and later I asked about the size of the bird?

M-L

raysimula
raysimula's picture

Sorry Araminta. The 6.38 post was a bit cryptic for me, no mention of a cuckoo here! What had me fooled about the other mentioned post was the fact that you named a shrike not a cuckoo. Sorry for my ignorance, I will be more careful in future.
Ray

birdie
birdie's picture

LOL.... get that tongue out of your cheek Ray :')

Yes Araminta there is a difference between a cuckoo and a cuckoo-shrike as you may know!

ALso remember that Windhover saw the parents feeding it so we can count the cuckoo idea out !!!

Sunshine Coast Queensland

raysimula
raysimula's picture

Again I'm sorry birdie, but isn't that what Cuckoos do. Lay there eggs in another birds nest so that the other bird feeds the baby Cuckoo.
Ray

birdie
birdie's picture

Ha ha ...... sometimes life on a forum can be very confusing.... so you were serious about a cuckoo? my turn to be sorry and say I hadn't even thought about what cuckoos do in this instance ... probably only because Windhover witnessed it and I feel sure he would recognise the difference if he saw it I guess.

I still say you had your tongue in cheek though :') in a nice way of course.

Sunshine Coast Queensland

Araminta
Araminta's picture

well, earlier in the challenge, I did think of a cuckoo, when I asked about the strips in the tail, then I got sidetracked by the colours of the bird.But as I said, the beak is very chunky? And,as you said , the parents wouldn't look like the baby? Tongue in cheek or not (?), there are still a few questions.....? Life is one big mystery!LOL

M-L

Windhover
Windhover's picture

Hi Ray

If you look at the plumage, it is very similar to the female Scarlet Howneyeater. Greyish. It was also small, a little smaller than the two adults feeding it. I also happened to have my friend with me at the time who is about as trustworthy of identifying and co-identifying as I would consider myself to be.

A lot of young birds take time to develop adult beak shapes. Take a look at this FLEDGED White-winged Chough. It is a White-winged Chough fledged days before the image was taken, not some other parasitic bird. Note the bill looks nothing like the adults'.

http://amatteroflight.com/gallery2/d/1364-2/White-winged-Chough_4505v1.jpg

raysimula
raysimula's picture

G'day Windover. I'm not saying it is a Cuckoo,I don't know what it is. I was just wondering if anyone had considered that possibility, and the fact that it was being fed by Scarlet H.Es did not nessesarily mean that it absolutely had to be a Scarlet HE. If you are sure it is a S.H.E then that's good enough for me. Ray

Windhover
Windhover's picture

No worries Ray. :)
I was merely making the point of bills not developing into adult shape upon fledging. The fact you mentioned if anyone considered a cuckoo prompted me to see whether honeyeaters would play host to cuckoos. I guess at the chick stage since a lot of food provided has to be a protein source, eg insects, it's likely that cuckoos also use honeyeaters as hosts. It would be great to know that. So I will dig deep.

Cheers mate

Tazrandus
Tazrandus's picture

*proudly claims Windhover's non-existent prize* Thanks :)
Yeah I pretty much did what Birdie did and searched on google just in case. The beak shape really made this quite a conundrum but it taught me something interesting :)
Good luck reseaching on the cuckoos and honeyeaters.

Taz

 and   @birdsinbackyards
                 Subscribe to me on YouTube