name of this bird - any bird lovers?

Was out bush on a detecting trip in WA (Murchison area) for the last month and took a shot of this bird. It runs along on the ground mostly, but can fly also. It has a little black crest on its head that it seems stick up when its alarmed. We couldn't find it in our Aust. bird book, so would ask if anyone on here could identify it?

I consulted my field guide to the Birds of Australia and think that it could be a juvenile male Crested Bellbird (Oreoica guttarallis).

onebob

I think its called " Harold "
Cheers Dig

kevin...........................

.

Digginerup its not "Kevin" hes taller,Fencejumper at a casual glance I'd say your spot on it "Sue",but on closer inspection you'll notice its "Harold" doing an impression of "Sue".
Cheers Dig

Thanx onebob, are they listed as being in the murchison, southern gascoyne area, wa? cute little thing, was having a stouch with a willie wagtail and two black and white robins for some ants in a dead log we pulled up for the fire...
And to the others, its name isn't Sue, thats mine, silly buggars!
...Suz

iluvthebush wrote:Was out bush on a detecting trip in WA (Murchison area) for the last month and took a shot of this bird. It runs along on the ground mostly, but can fly also. It has a little black crest on its head that it seems stick up when its alarmed. We couldn't find it in our Aust. bird book, so would ask if anyone on here could identify it?

Gday

Yep I have seen these birds hopping about the place myself, looking at the pics on the attached site it appears that it is a "female" crested bellbird.

http://www.graemechapman.com.au/cgi-bin/viewphotos.php?c=10


cheers

stayyerAU

yeah......no thats definately Kevin.

Gday

I really like to watch the antics of birds in the bush, particularly the gallahs hanging upside down from trees etc, and carrying on like pork chops, often there are many birds we hear in the bush but never see as well and this crested bellbird is probably one of them.

While at work one day I saw a couple of wattle birds (clackers) chasing eacthother, one must have strayed in to the others camp, they are very territorial, and will swoop all other birds and dogs, cats, and as they pass they make a clacking sound with I assume their beaks, our cat is terrified of them.

Anyway they flew past at one hell of a rate of knots, one in hot persuit of the intruder, when in full flight the second clacker latched on to the tail of the first clacker and promptly closed its wings and hung from the first clackers tail, the first clacker squawked and wildly flapped to keep airborne while the other just hung there limply, after a couple of seconds it let go and the intruder shot away with a couple of tail feathers missing.

It happened so suddenly and was extremely funny to see.

cheers

stayyerAU

A couple of years ago, I was in our back yard and heard this great squawking commotion. I looked up just in time to see a very territorial wattlebird doing the exact same thing to a blackbird. It was going like a bat out of hell with this wattlebird firmly attached to its tail. So funny!!!

Thanx so much for this info Stayyer. That bloke has a great website, so saved it to my faves for future reference. Seems we were pretty lucky to see this little bird. Not shy at all, she was hopping about with the willy wagtail and robins, after the ants in the log. I love sitting out bush being visited by our feathered friends. I have a couple of wattle birds in the back garden, cheeky little buggars....Suz

Suz
Got some willywagtails that nest on our property.Was out the back last year when they had young ones.Theres a group of eagles that come by hunting.Quite amazing to watch as these willys fly up 200metres and attack the eagles.Fearless.
Cheers Dig

Hi Dig, yes, the willy's give them all a wakeup. While we were watching this scenario, the willy managed to attack, the robins and the bellbird to try to keep them away from the ants. They're real go-ers! I have two nests at home on my table, they are a master building miracle. They were from an abandoned shearing shed and were woven together with wool, horsehair and all sorts. The bloke on the station who gave them to me reckoned that they cut them down every year and start again. All that work!

I have seen magpies have a " fight " on the lawn, the one will lie on it's back and the other will attack. It will go on for some minutes. They will also try and pull the pegs out of the washing.

I did see a Crow or was it an Australian Raven, sat on the fence with a golf ball in it's mouth. It hopped down on to the beach and buried the golf ball in the beach with it's beak. Why did it do that ?

stayyerAU wrote:

iluvthebush wrote:Was out bush on a detecting trip in WA (Murchison area) for the last month and took a shot of this bird. It runs along on the ground mostly, but can fly also. It has a little black crest on its head that it seems stick up when its alarmed. We couldn't find it in our Aust. bird book, so would ask if anyone on here could identify it?

Gday

Yep I have seen these birds hopping about the place myself, looking at the pics on the attached site it appears that it is a "female" crested bellbird.

http://www.graemechapman.com.au/cgi-bin/viewphotos.php?c=10


cheers

stayyerAU

Yup - i agree a female crested bellbird - looks young too. Good site that one, thanks

onebob