Help with small bird identification please

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cathryn-f
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Help with small bird identification please

i have had a little bird come regularly into my house looking for spiders. He hops along the ground, is the size of a wren or thorn bill. Has a short tail, so not a wren. Is dark brown on upper side and a rusty brown underneath. Black eye, no eyebrow. Dark legs. No other markings I can see, only the dark brown and rusty colours. It has a sharp call. I've also seen it outside and behaviours in a similar manner to a robin, by siting on the fence and darting to the ground when it spies something to eat.

its not a dusky robin, I don't think, and it's seems to be the wrong colour for a female of any of the usual small birds I see in the Blue Mountains NSW. Help please.

Martyn

It could be a young individual that hasn't developed it's adult plumage yet, maybe a juvenile eastern yellow robin? Alternatively, if it's been coming for a while and hasn't changed plumage (and is therefore an adult), perhaps a pilot bird?

cathryn-f
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Thanks Marty. I can see why you said pilot bird, but this bird doesn't seem to have the scalloping on its head or chest. I listened to a recording of the pilot bird call, and I don't think it was the same either. We do, however, have a resident Lyre bird in the valley below us, who occasionally visits our garden.

we also have Eastern Robins in the garden at the moment, but again, there is too much scalloping and other colours on the juv to be my bird.

do you have any other suggestions for me? Thanks for you help though.

cathryn-f
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Hi again,

Your suggestions have put me onto the right path, and now I'm thinking Rock Warbler. We live in the Blue Mtns which is part of the Hawkesbury Sandstone locale. The colours look right, I'm a bit doubtful about the speckle face, but the bird is ver active and doesn't stay still long enough. The wings and under parts are all the right colours. Thanks for steering me in the right direction.

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