The problem with bassian and russet-tailed thrushes is that they look almost identical, their distributions overlap, and, to boot, they have similar habits and behaviour. They have only recently been separated into different species. Their calls differ and where they occur together they don’t interbreed. Both occur in dense forests along the east coast of Australia, but only the bassian thrush is found south of Sydney. In northern NSW, and along the QLD coast, where both spec

During our recent camping trip to Koreelah NP, in May, we were greeted by wrens that hovered around our campsite, but of which species? It is easy to tell the difference between the species of fairy-wrens if you see an adult male in his brightly coloured breeding plumage, but how about during winter, and what about the juveniles and females with no male nearby? Here are photos taken else-where of male fairy-wrens in breeding plumage. Joe did take a photo of an adult male Vari

Part 1, on the distinguishing features of females and juveniles can be found here. Part 3 on the wrens at Koreelah can be found here. For male fairy-wrens the changes in plumage colour are much more complex than for the females. Juvenile males initially look just like the females. The first thing to change is the tail colour. Wikipedia says that young male superb fairy-wrens "usually develop a blue tail before their first winter". And then they begin to acquire a dark beak. T

This is Part 1 of a three-part series of articles. You can find Part 2, The young males here, and Part 3, The fairy-wrens at Koreelah here Like all hobbies as you delve further into bird watching and photography, it becomes more and more complex. The more you know, the more you realize there is still to learn. When you start out, you think it is just a simple matter of learning what the species looks like and you have it all sewn up. Then you find that males and females of a