Gerygone or Whistler

Hi Stevehapp

The top image looks to me like a Striated Thornbill.
The little wispy markings behind the eye are right for that species. If I am right, it should have had a ginger coloured top of the head, and stripes (lengthways markings) on its forehead.
http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/pardalotes_scrubwrens_thornbills_allies.htm#STTB
Typically it makes buzzing noises, and lives high in the tree canopies.
Listen to the call on the BiBY site
http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/finder/display.cfm?id=116

The second image has the distinctive large eye of the Brown Thornbill, combined with fine throat markings. Brown Gerygone has a short, stubby beak. Gelmir's lovely LB Scrubwren also has a large eye, but it has a plain throat. .
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The Brown Thornbill tends to live low down in scrub, and make a melodius call and lots of scolding noises (somewhat like a White-browed Scrubwren).
See these Brown Thornbill images.
http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/pardalotes_scrubwrens_thornbills_allies.htm#BRTB
Listen to call on the BiBY site
http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/finder/display.cfm?id=114
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Make up your own mind, based on habitat, and where the birds were feeding, etc.
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Hope these notes help.
Denis

Excellent write up Denis!

Ed, I was out birding with another bloke a few weeks ago who described LBJ's, or little brown birds, in words that were more descriptive of the emotion they evoke when all you see of them is that it's some little brown bird of sort racing past you at 100mph! :^D

Hi Steve
Don't feel bad. I know how hard it is to shoot these little things, especially in low light conditions (as is normal in dense scrub or rainforests).
Personally I have two standards I like to use for photos. These are publication standard images (which I seldom achieve, but Gelmir's Large-billed Scrubwren is an example of what I mean).
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Then there are what I refer to as "diagnostic images", which show some key feature of a bird - enough to help identify it. Any "diagnostic standard" image is worth putting up on sites like this - if it is intended to solve an ID problem. Yours meet that standard, fine.
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I find I often save the images on this site (as I did with yours), save to desktop, and open in a photo editing program, double the size, and lighten the image a little bit. Its amazing what one can actually make out by doing that.
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I am confident of the IDs I suggested for your birds, as a result of having a good look at them both.
Cheers
Denis