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Gilbert's Whistlers are large whistlers. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are slightly different. Male Gilbert's Whistlers have a large orange-brown throat patch. The rest of the front, sides and flanks is mostly grey, with some pale orange-brown tint down the centre of the belly towards vent and undertail coverts. The head and back are brownish-grey, the tail is grey. The wing feathers are dark-grey, with lighter grey edge lining. Female Gilbert's Whistlers have a light-grey throat patch and a grey front. Their ear coverts are also grey. Their back is lighter grey than the males'. Both sexes have eyes with red-brown irises. The bill is black; legs and feet are dark-grey. Juveniles have more rufous-brown tints than adults.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of Gilbert's Whistler is available HERE .

Gilbert's Whistlers are endemic to the southern part of the Australian continent. They occur in an isolated area of about 200 km around Cobar, central western NSW, in the lower Murray-Darling Basin, along the NSW/VIC border to about Yarrawonga in the East, along the coastline of the Great Australian Bight (but not Eyre peninsula in SA), around (but not in) the Nullarbor and on into southern WA. In WA they are not found on the south-western tip of the continent, but an area stretching from the WA/SA coastal border westward (the Wheat Belt), encompassing Kalgoorlie, WA, and towards the West coast of WA to the North of Perth.

Although there are no races, the birds outside the Murray-Darling catchment, West of roughly the NSW/VIC border, tend to be darker than their eastern cousins.

Gilbert's Whistlers have a preference for mallee-type woodland and scrub.

R. Brinsley reports spotting Gilbert's Whistlers 85 km West of Wentworth, NSW, regularly, e.g. in October 2010 and again in November 2019.

R. Plumtree reports finding Gilbert's Whistlers at Mount Korong, VIC, in November 2018.

M. Eaton spotted a Gilbert's Whistler at Lake Gilles, SA, in June 2023.