There have been a group of these at my place the last few days. They make a lot of noise with their descending whistle call, I would have thought silence was a better tactic.
They fly from tree to tree, moving their head at odd angles, I presume trying to get a good view to see any hidden nests they can parasitise. They obviously didn't evolve with deciduous trees, it looks quite odd in a leafless apple tree.
Nice sighting Greg! They are usually pretty hard to spot - no doubt the deciduous apple helps with the sighting.
Any fairy-wrens around they are looking for?
Hi Holly, the noise helped a lot, plenty of fairy-wrens here and lots of other little birds like thornbills, weebills and honeyeaters.
I hear a descending whistle around here from time to time and I just can't get a look at what it might be. I have often thought it may be a cuckoo.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Greg, I have eliminated one descending shrew sound. Turned out to be a fig bird, must be a spring call that I have never heard before.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
I often follow an interesting call only to find it is a resident bird with a different call. Hooded robins often catch me that way.
Horsfield's sound like the call of double barred finches, but a bit louder.