Taken this morning at Anstead Bushland Reserve western suburbs of Brisbane.. My first thought was that it was a Brown Treecreeper.
Two things made me think that:
- It was climbing up the side of the main trunk exactly the same as a Treecreeper does.
- The barring under the tail.
There a few things that make me think it is not a treecreeper:
- Bright orange legs and feet.
- The orange / yellow around the eye.
Stumped?
There were a few around all feeding.
The view from underneath.
Varied Sittela I think.
Yep, varied sittella. There are many different races with some significant variations in markings, so you'll find that they look quite different in different areas
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
Home now and able to check properly, looks like juvenile, race leucocephala
Are you sure it was behaving the same as a tree creeper? Sitellas ususally descend the trunk, tree creepers ascend the trunk. That way the two species share more resources.
Home now and able to check properly, looks like juvenile, race leucocephala
Did look at Varied Sittella in my field guide this morning but couldn't find anything with the grey head but have just read, " White-headed Sitella Immature head mostly grey." Many Thanks Rick and HelloBirdy.
Tick number 213.
Samford Valley Qld.
Interesting comment Woko. I hadn't noticed until you mentioned that but in my field guide (Graham Pizzey & Frank Knight 1995 edition) it shows all the different types of Sittella and they are all facing down the trunk as you say.
Another interesting comment is "Groups forage together, flying into heads of trees typically working down branches and trunks with contant rocking horse motion" which is exactly what these birds were doing this morning.
Samford Valley Qld.
yes, Varied Sittella, smaller and quieter than treecreepers
my last sighting was at Bowra in September and they were going both up and down the trees, had me fooled for awhile until I got a good look
congrats on the new tick
Peter
Nice work to get one of these John. Most I have seen work down the tree and very fast.