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20

Eastern Whipbird

(Psophodes olivaceus)
Alternate name(s): "Coachwhip-bird*", "Stockwhip-bird*", "Whipbird*"
Aboriginal name(s): "guwan", "jarun" [ngadjon]

Size: 25-30 cm
Weight: 47-72 g
Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description

Click here for a physical description

Taxonomy, classification

See Eastern Whipbird at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species

Click here for information on habitat and range

Sightings

Click here for sighting information

Photos

Race "olivaceus"

ADULT

Sex unknown

Close-up frontal portrait of an adult Eastern Whipbird (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Water Hole Road, Metung, near Lakes Entrance, VIC, November 2018]

Frontal view of an Eastern Whipbird
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, May 2014]

Frontal view of an adult Eastern Whipbird foraging in leaf litter (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, April 2013]

Near-frontal view of an Eastern Whipbird
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, May 2014]

Close-up near-lateral portrait of an Eastern Whipbird issuing its call (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Water Hole Road, Metung, near Lakes Entrance, VIC, November 2018]

Near-lateral view of an Eastern Whipbird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, January 2020]

Lateral view of an Eastern Whipbird (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, July 2017]

Lateral view of an Eastern Whipbird foraging amongst leaf litter (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, April 2013]

Lateral view of an Eastern Whipbird in broad daylight (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Lamington NP, QLD, February 2018]

Lateral view of an adult Eastern Whipbird on a tree stump (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, September 2013]

Lateral view of an Eastern Whipbird issuing its characteristic call (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Ensay South, East Gippsland, VIC, November 2014]

Near-dorsal view of an Eastern Whipbird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Lamington NP, QLD, February 2018]

Near-dorsal view of an Eastern Whipbird foraging through leaf litter (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, January 2020]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Lateral view of a sub-adult Eastern Whipbird moulting into adult plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Lamington NP, QLD, February 2018]

Lateral view of juvenile Eastern Whipbird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Gold Scrub Lane, Samsonvale, QLD, May 2020]

Lateral view of an juvenile Eastern Whipbird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Anstead, QLD, August 2017]

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Eastern Whipbird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Anstead, QLD, August 2017]

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Eastern Whipbird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, January 2020]

Adult and juvenile Eastern Whipbird out in plain view (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Black Duck Reserve, Murrumba Downs, near Brisbane, QLD, September 2017]

Race "lateralis"

ADULT

Sex unknown

Close-up frontal view of an adult Eastern Whipbird (photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Lake Eacham, Atherton Tablelands, QLD, August 2020]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial Mobility: Sedentary Elementary unit: Pair

The Eastern Whipbirds observed by us at Wingham Brush Nature Reserve behaved differently compared to their cousins at Dorrigo NP: In the absence of dense underbrush they stayed in the tree tops almost all the time.

View of the underside of an Eastern Whipbird high up in a tree top
[Wingham Brush NR, NSW, September 2011]

This photo shows an Eastern Whipbird using its foot to help hold down something while foraging in leaf litter
(photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, April 2013]

Food, Diet

Eastern Whipbirds forage in the leaf litter of dense forests for insects. However, when necessary they appear to find food in tree tops as well.

Eastern Whipbird with its prey, a cockroach (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, July 2017]

Near-dorsal view of an Eastern Whipbird with its prey (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[O'Reilly's Plateau, Lamington NP, Gold Coast, QLD, January 2020]

This Eastern Whipbird was observed trying to catch the spider whose web can be seen in the photo; while chasing the spider, it used an alarm call, as recorded on 14 March 2016
[Bunya Mountains NP, QLD, March 2016]

This Eastern Whipbird was observed trying to catch the spider whose web can be seen in the photo; while chasing the spider, it used an alarm call, as recorded on 14 March 2016
[Bunya Mountains NP, QLD, March 2016]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

The sound tracks below, which are brought to a normalized intensity in order to ensure linear amplification, cannot correctly reproduce the enormous volume of Eastern Whipbirds' calls. When nearby, their calls are absolutely ear-piercing in pitch and intensity. The calls carry, through rainforest, over distances of 500-1000 m.

eastwhp_20150820_4.m4a olivaceus
(NE NSW)
Contact call (male?) © MD
eastwhp_20150820_2.m4a olivaceus
(NE NSW)
Pair Q&A © MD
eastwhp_20140522_A.mp3 olivaceus
(SE QLD)
Pair Q&A (very close) © MD
eastwhp_art_20131125_3.m4a olivaceus
(SE QLD)
Pair Q&As © ART
eastwhp_20140524_2.mp3 olivaceus
(SE QLD)
Q&2As (two responses) © MD
eastwhp_20150820.m4a olivaceus
(NE NSW)
Q&A(?) © MD
eastwhp_20150328.m4a olivaceus
(N NSW)
Alarm call © MD
eastwhp_20170608.m4a olivaceus
(SE QLD)
"Loudspeaker test" © MD

More Eastern Whipbird sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site?
If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.