OK, so I think this is a fan-tailed cuckoo. Especially as it has a yellow eye ring
.
.
and it did this:
.
.
This was seen half an hour later in the same general area but I think its a Pallid cuckoo.
.
.
What do others think?
And this one has me stumped. Doesn't help that it moved as I snapped. It looked very familiar. Had a large eye. Do immature Eastern Yellow Robins look like this? Is the tail right?
This guy and two white plumed honeyeaters were chased off by a New Holland Honeyeater before I could get more pics.
Hi Bookshie,
the third Cuckoo pic is most definetly a Fan-tailed. Its back is much darker than that off the Pallid. Pallid Cuckoo's also have a line that runs along their eye.
Nice pics.
Max.
Sydney...
Hrmm. I see what you mean about the eye.
I got the impression that the one I'm calling a Pallid cuckoo was a smaller bird than the Fan-tailed and by rights it should have been bigger. Is there anything else it could be? Or its it just a question of getting my perspective muddled up?
---booshkie---
Excellent news, thanks Denis!
So I've seen the juvenile (several times) and now the female.
I just have to track down that elusive male!
---booshkie---
Today I saw the fan-tailed cuckoo again. And this time during my monthly bird survey so it was nice to get it on record!
It appeared in between the two locations I saw it yesterday.
---booshkie---
Denis is definitely the go-to person for these tricky ones! :^)
This photo and the one I took have the same 2 red leading into black on the beak, tail shape and colour are the same, but mine has a bit more yellow on the chest. Perhaps this one is younger than that one I say?
Good point about handling birds Denis. I had a little experience assisting in the CSIRO banding in the early 80s and the up close and personal thing is amazing. You have to be amazed at bird banders. A mate of mine spent ages get a rainbow lorikeet because it kept biting the net and twisting it's hed or leg into the mesh. Then we got it out and it latched onto his finger right beside the nail. you gotta take your hat off to a bloke that can (almost) calmly put up with that till a bird lets go.
See Yez
Trev
Yay!
Now I know what to co with the two striated pardalottes in my freezer.
My mum saved them for me when they whacked into her window. A murder/suicide perhaps? (But no, separate occasions).
I will "handle" them. And hopefully get a primary school class or two involved.
---booshkie---
Due to Gelmir's recommendation, I took a walk with my husband at the Narrabeen Lagoon and the Deep Creek Reserve today. I saw the following bird there but unfortunately I couldn't take a very good photo. Am I right if I think that it was a fan-tailed cuckoo?
In my inexpert opinion, yes it is.
---booshkie---