Please help me identify this little one :-)

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Janice.bartley
Please help me identify this little one :-)

This little guy was having a little nap whilst watching me hang he washing out yesterday. Can someone tell me who is is? My best educated guess so far is a Little Wattle Bird :-) Thanks everyone :-)

HelloBirdy
HelloBirdy's picture

While I have little experience with little wattlebirds, the beak on this bird does not look to me like that of a honeyeater. 
My first impression is maybe a juvenile oriole?

A location would also be helpful

Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera

Janice.bartley

So sorry, I'm new to this forum, I assumed my location would load automatically :-) Waratah, Newcastle NSW :-)

Thank you, I think he could indeed be a little oriole, he was roughly 20-30 cm, does this sound about right?

HelloBirdy
HelloBirdy's picture

Thanks and welcome to the forum. It's a great place to share photos and many of the members are very knowledgeable and helpful when it comes to ID. 

Size and locationwise, I still think olive-backed oriole is most likely. I thought olive-backed oriole because of its streaking and general shape, but as I have have only seen adults before (and this clearly isn't an adult oriole), I suggest you wait for another member to confirm (or otherwise) the ID before making a final call. 

Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera

Elsie
Elsie's picture

Hello and welcome laugh I hope you enjoy your time here, and look forward to hopfully seeing some more of your photos!

With this bird, I would be inclined to suggest a female or juvenile Australasian Figbird. They do look very similar to the olive-backed orioles though smiley And it would be good to have someone else confirm it too smiley

Have a lovely day!

timrp
timrp's picture

I agree with Elsie.

Shirley Hardy
Shirley Hardy's picture

Sorry I can't help here as I've never seen any of these birds stated in this thread by everyone, let alone the bird in your pic. However, I done a bit of googling after looking at your pic, noticing it had a thick underside about it's butt downward to it's tail. That area of it's body ruled out Wattlebirds for me. All we get here In Tenterfield, NSW are Red Wattlebirds. 

I've google image searched everyone's suggestion and come up with two possible contenders for this bird:

1. Australasian Figbird

2. Olive-backed Oriole

However, your bird has one noticeable difference - it seems to have an area of grey skin surrounding the eye. Olive-backed Orioles don't have this feature, so I'm going to say your bird is an Australian Figbird. This is not a final answer as there could be other bird species out there that look like both these two species at the juvenile stage. I hope this helps clarify something for you anyway, Janice.

I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)

Janice.bartley

I really appreciate everyones help here, and thank you for so many warm welcomes! I think at this point it is a good idea to just keep hanging out laundry with my camera for the next few months and try and get some grown-up pictures to make ID a little easier :-)

I think a juvenile Oriole makes more sense at this stage, from what I know of Figbirds they're a little more social that this quiet, tired little loner. But really, it's hard to say.

Thanks again everyone! smiley

timrp
timrp's picture

Juvenile Orioles do not have the brown head that the bird in this photo has, also juvenile Oriole's have a green tinge over their head and have white eyebrow markings. That's how I know that it's a Juvenile Australasian Figbird. 

Devster
Devster's picture

Welcome JB, hope you mange to learn as much as I have from this forum.

I agree with Tim and Elsie for Juvi Figbird. Tim is spot on with his reasons.

I have seen both and this is defs a Figbird.

SteveM
SteveM's picture

In addition to the above, the bill is too short & stubby for an Oriole, which has a relatively longer more pointed bill.

pacman
pacman's picture

here's a juvenile Figbird pic for comparison, in similar stance as your bird

as mentioned earlier always give the locatin of the pic that may be different form your home location

Peter

Janice.bartley

Just a final thank you to everyone, the rest of the figbird family has now moved in, I've seen the males as well. And I'm chuffed that after 30 years watching birds in the same suburb I now know a new species :-)

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