Lesser Cuckooshrike

Lalage fimbriata

Medium-sized gray bird (small for a cuckooshrike) with considerable geographic variation. Male averages darkest on the wings, throat, and breast, contrasting more heavily with the rest of the plumage than in the fairly uniform-looking male Indochinese Cuckooshrike. Female is pale gray with fine barring on the underparts. Undertail is black with white-tipped feathers concentrated at the end of the tail; does not appear as evenly graduated as in the larger Black-winged Cuckooshrike, and is less extensively white-tailed than Indochinese Cuckooshrike. Forages in the upper levels of forests and forest edge in lowland and hilly areas, often as part of mixed-species flocks. Song begins with a few clear tinkling notes, then transitions into a loud, insistent “jeh, jeh, jeh, jeh”.

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Lalage fimbriata
Authority
(Temminck, 1824)
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Campephagidae
Genus
Lalage

Range and habitat

Migration
Resident species

Conservation

Population trend
declining

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Bates's Sunbird

Bates's Sunbird

Cinnyris batesi

A very small nondescript sunbird with a short orange-based bill that curves uniformly along its length; easily mistaken for females of other sunbirds. The only features on the olive upperparts are indistinct paler eyebrows and lines running under the eyes, and yellow edging to the wings. Although often hidden, the male has yellow or whitish (not red) tufts at the shoulders. Singles are local and inconspicuous at the edges of lowland and riverine forest, sometimes entering secondary growth; it joins mixed-flocks and is frequently attracted to epiphytes in mossy clumps. Calls a high-pitched “tseeep” and trills. Little Green and Fraser’s sunbirds are similar to Bates’s but brighter, with straighter bills and more distinct yellowish eye-rings; Ursula’s Sunbird has a long decurved bill and grayish face and underparts.

Three-streaked Tchagra

Three-streaked Tchagra

Tchagra jamesi

A mostly gray tchagra of dry country. Of the three fine namesake streaks, two run through the eyes and one along the top of the head. The mostly rufous wings and white tail tips are conspicuous in flight. Found in areas of dry savanna and thornscrub with dense undergrowth. Generally uncommon and inconspicuous. Reminiscent of Brown-crowned and Black-crowned Tchagras, but separated by the gray head, which lacks buff eyebrows. The song is a descending series of whistles, often given in a parachuting display flight, similar to the song of Brown-crowned Tchagra, but slightly higher-pitched. 

Baudin's Black-Cockatoo

Baudin's Black-Cockatoo

Zanda baudinii

Black cockatoo with white ear patch and white tail panel. Inhabits moist eucalypt forest in the southwestern corner of Western Australia, where it eats seeds from large seed pods of Marri and Karri trees. Unlikely to be observed out on the coastal sand plains of Perth. Very similar to Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo but with much longer, pointed upper mandible. Calls include mournful wailing cries that are more clipped than those of Carnaby’s.

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