Very small bird, only have sound

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eternalrush
eternalrush's picture
Very small bird, only have sound

Hi,

I recently heard and saw a few birds in some of the trees in my backyard southeast of Melbourne, but couldn't get any photos or video of them as it was hard to see them clearly in the trees. I usually get some sparrows and New Holland honeyeaters in my yard which are already quite small, but these ones looked even smaller. They were really small and I'm pretty sure I saw them have a bit of yellow. They are the only ones making the sound in the clip that I uploaded, unfortunately I could only get a short part of their call recorded and they were much louder than what the microphone could get, but they were all making that fast sounding call at the start quite a lot before I recorded.

Is anyone able to identify these? I've been looking at a lot of small bird sounds but still couldn't find any which sounds like the fast call this one makes. I've never heard this call before.

Thanks

AJ Anderson
AJ Anderson's picture

White-plumed Honeyeater could be a candidate.

W-P HE call eBird

Also Yellow Thornbill...

eternalrush
eternalrush's picture

It really does sound like it could be either of those 2, they really are great looking birds. I really hope they come around again. 

Thanks for the help!

Woko
Woko's picture

Just a tip, eternalrush: planting your garden & neighbourhood with the original native vegetation will attract a wide range of native birds. But I might be teaching you to suck eggs! Sorry if I am. 

eternalrush
eternalrush's picture

I actually have been trying to help the local nectar eating birds as I already have 4 Grevilleas planted the local Little Wattlebird family love along with at least 3 couples of New Holland Honeyeaters and the occasional Red Wattlebird visitor, and the Little Wattlebird's who were here first have been unable to chase the honeyeaters out for years which is quite funny to watch, but there's plenty of insects as well as Banksia trees at the neighbors to help out with food for all. The tiny birds that I couldn't ID didn't go for any of the flowers though so I guess they're more likely to be Yellow Thornbills.

Woko
Woko's picture

They might be thornbills of some species but they might also be Silver Eyes, Weebills or a number of other species. 

Your report that larger honeyeaters such as Red & Little Wattlebirds are attracted to your grevilleas makes me wonder if the grevilleas are large flowering hybrids. If this is the case could I suggest you are careful about these as, while they're very showy, they do attract larger birds which then discourage smaller birds. But you may well be aware of this!

Woko
Woko's picture

They might be thornbills of some species but they might also be Silver Eyes, Weebills or a number of other species. 

Your report that larger honeyeaters such as Red & Little Wattlebirds are attracted to your grevilleas makes me wonder if the grevilleas are large flowering hybrids. If this is the case could I suggest you are careful about these as, while they're very showy, they do attract larger birds which then discourage smaller birds. But you may well be aware of this!

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