This morning I finally discovered who was making all the chirping noises in the back yard just minutes after my daughter went to school. But now I have a problem. The bird on the left was the one doing all the chirping but the other one was elusive and chirped very softly and quietly, just twice before it flew away. I am not sure if the bird is a very young female or it is a fledgling but a female one. I know it is a female from internet searches and videos and images I've come across. But it's age is what baffles me. It seems to be a medium brown colour, like a House Sparrow, has the beginnings of the white streaks on it's head; and a yellow vent area. There is no other yellow colouring to this bird that I could see in the photo when enlarged.
I think a bit of history of the other bird is needed here. The chirpy colourful one (on left) has been heard out the back 8-10 times or more per day for the passed 3-4 weeks. There has been no other sighting of any other bird of this species, and only one bird has ever been heard during that time.
The chirpy one was going to and fro from the Flat's roof to the clothes line then it'd chirp a few times or more then fly back to the roof or fly away. It done an anticlockwise circuit of nearby gardens (5-6 in total as I heard it chirping in those areas as well) plus a willow tree before coming back here. It made a completely different sound when it got to the willow tree area.
Can someone please help me to age the bird on the right? And where do breeding males (that are breeding) roost for the night?
Hi Shirley, Straited Pardalotes are very similar in sexes and hard to identify apart. I think the bird on the right could be a Yellow Rumped Thornbill, Possibly. Bit hard to tell by the photo. I gather the dark colour on its chest is just a shadow. The tail on that bird is definitely to long and broard to be a Pardalote. Do you have any other photos?
Cheers Muz
I agree with Muz, the bird on the left is a Striated Pardalote and the bird on the right is almost definately a Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
I'm sorry but this is the only photo I have of this bird. I haven't seen it since. I can't enlarge the photo either as my pc has problems and won't install the 2 programmes I used to use on this site for photos. (I've just remembered a way using just my keyboard to enlarge pictures. Sorry about the quality of the attached photo. The colour has disintegrated a fair bit.)
Well, that's very interesting. I've never sighted a Yellow-rumped Thornbill here. There are the ordinary ones - Yellow Thornbills - that are here and they are tiny compared to the Striated Pardalote.
Yes, the dark patch on the right bird's chest is a shadow but it does have a darker brown band across it's chest. It did have a dark grey to a light black colour to the top of it's head and it also had a few white patches or streaks on the top of it's head amongst the light black colour. It was closer to the edge of the light black crown though. The bird actually looked more like a House Sparrow than a native bird when I first looked at it with my naked eyes.
Since last Thursday morning, the same afternoon, the lawnmower guy came along and mowed the lawn. The Striated Pardalote came back then abandoned the site. It is still in the area though but a lot further away. Somewhere near the creek actually.
It just seemed odd to me that the very day this bird on the right was sited the Striated Pardalote abandoned the site by that afternoon. It (Striated Pardalote) is also not doing it's rounds of the neighbourhood like it was doing before. Whatever this other bird is I believe it may have been the Striated Pardalote's mate or it's offspring. But as I hadn't seen another Pardalote it must've been it's mate and no offspring survived, hence abandoning the site.
But if it is a Yellow-rumped Thornbill why would it nest in a roof cavity next to house sparrows? Or maybe this is a cross between a house sparrow and a Striated Pardalote? I've since been taking photos of house sparrows but I have not seen this bird since. It's actually sized between a house sparrow and the Striated Pardalote - the house sparrow being the bigger of the two.
I have a video (in the video section of BIBY site) of the Striated Pardalote calling out. It was recorded moments after this photo was taken of the other bird. The Pardalote flew off in the direction of the other bird that had flown away, in semi-hot pursuit of the other bird.
I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)
Can't say I've seen a House Sparrow before as I'm from WA. Yellow Rumped Thornbills are unliley to nest in any thing other than trees /shrubs. They usually build their nest 2m or so off the ground and construct a grass type nest and often with a false nest on top. As in one nesting chamber with another nest on top. I've kept and bred these guys in aviaries before.
Look, this is 99.999% likely to be a ordinary Yellow-rumped Thornbill. I very highly doubt hybridisation. It is not uncommon to see different species of small birds flocking together
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
I'll say 100%.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
They would not be genetically closely related enough to hybridise.
Thanks for the comments about the other bird being a Yellow-rumped Thornbill. This is also another first sighting of a new species for me. Two in the same day, at the exact same time? There are Yellow Thornbills here but they are much smaller than the Striated Pardalote, let alone this other species of Thornbill. By the way, the Striated Pardalote is still here in the immediate area. Looks like it's moved into the neighbourhood.
I'm at Tenterfield, NSW. (Formerly known as "Hyperbirds".)