I have this fellow listed as Golden-headed Cisticola but confess to a little doubt. That greyish area on the breast seems unusual and I do not think it is dirt or dust. My fellow birder is leaning towards Zitting Cisticola but I am still uncertain. The neck seems whitish, the underside buff and I cannot tell what colour the tail tip is from my pictures. Is the barring usual on the tail?
The area is the Marglu Billabong in Parry lagoons reserve, WA which supports both Cisticola. Sorry for the pics but the best i could do at the time and they are heavily cropped.
Sue
that is another tall thin bird, I have not ticked Zitting Cisticola though I have tried to convince myself from a GhC sightings at both Darwin and Mackay
your bird does seem to have a sufficiently white body
Peter
I have not seen either bird but a quick look at P&K shows neither of these birds within thousands of kilometres of WA?
Not doubting you at all Sue, I know you are a very experienced birder as is Peter.
Is P&K a bit behind?
My P&K shows them both at Parry Lagoon? But the GH seems more likely ( Female )
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Thanks Shorty, my bad. Should have looked more carefully at the location of Parry's Lagoon :-)
Thanks all. I will stay with GHC as I cannot see white tips to the tail feathers ... they look buff although that could be dirt! Seems most likely to be GHC but I hope you all enjoyed the challenge. I'll have to go back and look again.
Parry Lagoons (or Parry's Lagoon) is 20km from Wyndham so right near that border area and on the Ord River floodplain. It is listed as an important wetland under the RAMSAR Convention. Right in the middle of nowhere of course!
Sue
Keep it quiet, Sue, or the developers will be in there like Flynn.