Hello, new and inexperienced bird watcher here. Was wondering if anyone could help with an ID for this bird seen near the river in North Fremantle, Western Australia. Couldn't find anything in my bird book. Sorry about the crappy photo quality.
It was fairly small (comparable to the willie wagtails harassing it), white/pale grey with pale buff front, a black mask, a shortish tail, and a strong looking beak, a bit like a butcher bird or kingfisher?
Thanks in advance!
ps I thought it might be a sacred kingfisher but there was no hint of blue or green on it from what I could see, seemed very black and white (apart from the slightly buff coloring further down the body)
Welcome eeljelly. A kingfisher from that bill, and I think you are dead right saying its a sacred kingfisher ... the tail looks blue to me as does the top rear of the head above the black mask. Maybe a hint of a buff eyebrow there too.
Welcome to Birds in Backyards, eeljelly.
By a process of eliminating the Kingfishers which don't have North Fremantle in their range I reckon this is a Red-backed Kingfisher especially, as you say, it's not a Sacred Kingfisher.
It is well within range for Sacred Kingfisher. I wouldn't rule out Red-backed Kingfisher from a photo of this angle and detail but Sacred is much more likely. Those are the only possibilities
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
Sacred Kingfisher
LM
Thanks for your help everyone. I hadn't heard of a Red-backed Kingfisher before. Unfortunately I couldn't get a look at its back which would have settled it. Yes it does seem to look a bit blue in my pictures but in real life it seemed more plain black. I have seen a Sacred Kingfisher before at Rottnest island and it seemed way more colorful and eye-catching than this fella, but I guess there is colour variation within the species. I'll keep my eye out for it in case its a regular. Anyway, I felt lucky to see it, a nice start to the day. Cheers!
Have just been looking at some photos of each species. Although you can't really tell from my dodgy photos I do remember the top of its head was quite pale, so perhaps am leaning more towards Red-backed Kingfisher, and also since the colors on the part of the wings I could see were not bright.
Dollarbirds look plain black in many lighting conditions, so the affect of lighting needs to be taken into consideration even if it did appear quite dark to you at the time
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
eeljelly ... have a look at this scared kingfisher posted here today by Laza from WA - similar lighting to yours and its far from a radiant blue
http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/forum/Early-Sacred-KingfisherSparrowhawks
Ah yes, good to note about the color, thanks for the info. I've been back to the spot a couple of times with my binoculars but no luck yet. Although a friend of mine said today he has seen Sacred Kingfishers nearby before, so along with the extra knowledge about the color I'm now thinking its probably a Sacred. Cheers!
Spotted again! Sacred Kingfisher confirmed
Mystery solved ... nice photo.