ID Challenge 6 January, 2021 P Plate by Sonja Ross
Young birds can provide a definite id challenge, mostly because they don’t always share the same feather patterns that we are accustomed to use for identification.
I photographed this one in Tasmania, near Cockle Creek, which does limit the options a bit, but it can be seen in parts of Vic and NSW, so no more clues!
Solution:
We are a clever group! Everyone recognised that the bird was a Honeyeater, and nearly all quickly realised that it must be a young Crescent Honeyeater Phylidonyris pyrrhopterus.
The distribution should have been a help, although I’ve just realised there is a fairly localised distribution in south-eastern S.A. which I should have included.
In the second image, you can see the yellow wing patch which a number of our Honeyeaters have, but the plainish front and slender bill also add to excluding some other Honeyeaters.
Ruth suggests it’s a young female, and it may be, but I’m not sure as some of the markings may be from shadows and light.
The last photo shows a male with a Dusky Robin from a spot in south west Tasmania where we camped for the night, and which initially confused me till I got a good look at both birds.
Comments:
Hannah Fairbairn: in South East SA, they’re found around Adelaide as well as by the VIC border pretty common in the Adelaide Hills
According to Pizzey & Knight, the Adelaide birds are a different subspecies and isolated from the rest of the species
Sonja Ross: Hannah, the ABG indicates that too. They have the majority shown in green, and the S.A. ones in brown
eBird: https://ebird.org/species/crehon2
Learn more/conservation status: Secure. https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/crescent-honeyeater
Women Birders Australia 