The other day I was walking past Mt St Joseph pond in Altona (Vic), and noticed a tiny bird sitting on a branch. I had no binoculars, but at first I thought it was a White-browed Scrubwren because it appeared to have some white markings on its face. But it was very small, and just moved further up the branch when I moved a bit closer.
Then a Superb Fairy-wren approached it, and I could see that their body sizes were almost the same. I also thought I could see some partial barring on its chest, suggesting Horsefield’s Bronze-cuckoo, but the tiny size doesn’t seem right.
I assume it hadn’t fledged yet, or it would have tried to fly away. Can anyone tell me whether a young HBC could be fully feathered and climbing about in a tree, yet still not much bigger than a SFW?
Incidentally, the pond is totally dry at the moment, apart from a tiny puddle right under the outfall of the drain under the north platform.
Peter Shute ===============================
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Any suggestions then? I did get the impression that it was associating with the SFW, but perhaps not. Perhaps the answer is that there really was no barring and that it was just a SFW itself.
Peter Shute
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Hi Peter,
Two things speak against Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo: (1) size (compared to Superb Fairy-wren) (2) barring (fledgling HBCs should be unbarred)
Cheers,
Nikolas