Pachycephala pectoralis

1 Golden Whistler at Hughes, ACT

Pachycephala pectoralis at Hughes, ACT - 17 Jul 2020
Pachycephala pectoralis at Hughes, ACT - 17 Jul 2020
Pachycephala pectoralis at Hughes, ACT - 17 Jul 2020
Pachycephala pectoralis at Hughes, ACT - 17 Jul 2020
Pachycephala pectoralis at Hughes, ACT - 17 Jul 2020
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Identification history

Pachycephala pectoralis 7 Aug 2020 natureguy
Pachycephala pectoralis 1 Aug 2020 BIrdsinCanberra

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User's notes

There were two Golden Whistlers, possibly a female and an immature bird. They were flying between trees, regularly making a single note call, as if to tell the other the location of the bird. They seemed to be looking under leaves for food. One of them managed to catch a juicy, green caterpillar. It then dashed the caterpillar against the branch the bird was perched on, causing some gooey stuff to stretch out the back of the unfortunate insect. The bird then, readjusted the caterpillar in its beak by throwing it slightly out of its mouth and catching it. It did not eat the caterpillar while I was watching but the caterpillar was gone shortly afterwards. There was a slight disagreement between these two birds, possibly as a result of the caterpillar. Shortly afterwards, one of them dove at the other and there was brief exchange of harsher calls before one of the birds flew off to a nearby tree where it stayed by itself for the remainder of the time I had them under observation.

2 comments

ConBoekel wrote:
   1 Aug 2020
The tan stripes on the wing of one of the birds indicates an immature male.
   1 Aug 2020
Many thanks ConBoekel, I thought one was an immature bird but I was not sure of the sex.

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