Eastern Whipbird
Psophodes olivaceus
Other Names: Whip Bird, (Coach-whip Bird, Psophodes crepitans, 19th Century)
Family: Cinclosomatidae (Quail-thrushes and allies, 8 species in Australia)
Size: 25-30 cm
Distribution: Within about 200 km of the coast of NSW, Eastern VIC and Most of QLD except the north
Status: Common to mderately common
Habitat: Dense understories of rainforests, coastal scrubs, wet sclerophyll forests, riparian (near a stream) forest
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest
The Eastern Whipbird is famous for its call which sounds like the crack of a whip. The call is actually made by two birds, the male beginning the call with the long whistle, and the female ending it with the whip crack sound. The sound is heard at the beginning of the theme song to "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo".
Eastern Whipbirds are heard much more than they are seen as they like to hide in dense scrub, from which they rarely emerge. They are also a drab colour which blends in very will with the background. The crest on their head is a distinguishing feature. The tail is fairly long and there is a light coloured patch on the lower side of the head. In the photo below this looks like a slightly lighter grey than the rest of the bird, sometimes it is lighter than this and the rest of the head is darker.
Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW
Artwork: John Gould, 'The Birds of Australia', 1848. Original Scanned Image.
Some Birdwatching Resources
|
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, Nicolas Day, Ken Simpson, Peter Trusler. I think this is the best bird field guide for Australia. It is known to birdwatchers as "Simpson and Day". I also like the pictures in this one the best out
of all the major field guides. The information is still very highly regarded compared to most of the other guides. Many serious birdwatchers think "Pizzey
and Knight" is
the best though. I bought this one since I liked the pictures so
much I figured (correctly) that I would spend more time looking through it. I feel that I made the right choice since I love the pictures in this one so much. I have the 6th edition, the current one is the 8th.
Click here to purchase from Australia $45.49 AUD |
|
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, Graham Pizzey and Frank Knight. This is the other of the two best bird field guides for Australia. It is the one preferred by most serious birdwatchers. However I find the pictures a bit dull looking for my taste — the birds all kind of look the same to me, making it harder to remember them in my mind. The illustrations are meant to be the most anatomically correct, though. If you want the most serious bird field guide get this one otherwise get Simpson and Day.
Click here to purchase from Australia $40.49 AUD |
Return to Australian Birds
Return to Site Map
australia bird
Website by  Webworks® 2005-2012. This page was last modified on the 7th of November, 2011.
|
