ID assistance Gibberbird / Chat

Bob

We saw both Gibberbirds and Orange Chats almost together on gibber plains on the way out to Lake Eyre from Williams Creek, SA. Even found an Orange Chat nest in a low shrub in gibber type country near the Lake. The enlarged image of your bird also shows the bird appears to have a yellow/cream corner of the gape suggesting it may be a young bird. Young Gibberbirds according to HANZAB have yellow eyes while your bird has red/brown eyes suggesting Orange Chat.

Greg Little

—–Original Message—– From: birding-aus-bounces@vicnet.net.au [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@vicnet.net.au] On Behalf Of Bob Cook Sent: Tuesday, 15 June 2010 8:42 PM To: ‘birding-aus’ Subject: [Birding-Aus] ID assistance Gibberbird / Chat

Hi again and thanks to all who have offer ID and reasons.

I understand these reasons and agree, but, I did not mention before the behaviour / environment factors that added to our ID confusion.

This bird was seen alone, whereas we had seen MANY Orange Chats, males and females, in groups during this trip from Outback NSW, through S.A. and into the N.T.

This bird was on very open gibber, did not fly or hop up onto any of the low plants in the immediate area. It walked and ran across the ground. Orange Chats we had seen all flew and perched on low and medium understory plants. None of the groups of Orange Chats were seen on such bare Gibber. I have added another picture to the gallery at the link below that better shows the surrounding country. This environment spread for at least several hundred metres in every direction.

This bird was observed twice within a few minutes taking a short, sharp vertical “flight”, perhaps around one metre off the ground to catch flying prey. I understand this is typical of Gibberbird, whereas Orange Chats typically feed off the ground.

I am not sure that the photos are good enough to rule out that this bird had a pale eye.

The “common” comment in the three guides I have is of the upright stance of the Gibberbird. This is what we saw, and is shown in all photos of the stationary bird, in comparison to the Orange Chats..

I do not currently have easy access to Hanzab, so I am relying on you to assist.

Does anyone want to help/comment further given the above observations??

Thanks again

Bob Cook

_____

From: Bob Cook [mailto:spanda8@bigpond.com] Sent: Tuesday, 15 June 2010 9:59 AM To: ‘birding-aus’ Cc: ‘Marlene Lyell’; ‘Russ Lamb’ Subject: ID assistance please

Hi all

Looking for assistance to help resolve identification of this bird. Seen along roadside and adjacent gibber North of Marree in South Australia. Unfortunately these were the best pictures we got.

Obvious contenders are Gibberbird and female/juvenile Orange Chat. All contributions gratefully received!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/BobBirdPics/MarreeMystery?feat=directlink

Bob Cook

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