mdahlem.net WWW

Aust birds    Bird names   News   1-26    Habitats    Key plants    Glossary    Plumage    Nests    Tips    Thumbnails    Gen. info    Sponsors    Photos for sale
NON-PASSERINES     1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10     11     12     13     14	15     16     17     18     19     20     21     22     23     24     25     26     PASSERINES
Common names sorted alphabetically: A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   W   Y

20

Northern Shrike-tit (Falcunculus whitei) Size: 15-19 cm Weight: 22-33 g

Australia: Family Group 20 Family Group 20 Table Eastern Whipbird Chirruping Wedgebill Chiming Wedgebill Spotted Quail-thrush Cinnamon Quail-thrush Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush Varied Sittella Crested Bellbird Eastern (Crested) Shrike-tit Northern (Crested) Shrike-tit Grey Whistler Olive Whistler Golden Whistler Western Whistler Mangrove Golden Whistler White-breasted Whistler Rufous Whistler Gilbert's Whistler Little Shrike-thrush Bower's Shrike-thrush Sandstone Shrike-thrush Grey Shrike-thrush Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Northern (Crested) Shrike-tits are bushland birds with a dimorphic plumage, i.e. males and females are slightly different. Both sexes have a have a prominent black eye stripe, chin and forehead, with a black longitudinal stripe along the crest, while the rest of the head, including small patches on the frons, is plain-white. The front, from the chest to the undertail coverts, is bright-yellow. The mantle is greyish-yellow; wings and tail are grey, with broad yellow edge-lining. The only difference between males and females is is that the former have a black bib, while the latter have an olive-grey bib (and a shorter crest). The eyes of both sexes have brown irises. The short, heavy bill is dark-grey. Legs and feet are also dark-grey. Juveniles have a more brownish back and a pale throat patch.

Taxonomy, classification See Crested Shrike-tit at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range 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 the Northern (Crested) Shrike-tit is available HERE . Northern (Crested) Shrike-tits are endemic to the northern part of Australia. They are only found in the tropical far North, from the eastern part of the Kimberley in WA, through the Top End of the NT, to the southern edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria, as far eastward as the NT/QLD border. Northern Shrike-tits have a preference for woodland.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Calls of a Northern Shrike-tit were serendipitously recorded in dry sclerophyll woodland at Pine Creek, NT, in August 2014. M. Eaton reports finding Northern Shrike-tits in the township of Katherine, NT, in July 2020. P. Brown spotted Northern Shrike-tits at the Flora River CR, Victoria Highway, NT, in March 2021.

Photos

ADULT

MALE

Near-lateral view of a male Northern Shrike-tit; note the black throat patch (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Katherine, NT, July 2020]

Lateral view of a male Northern Shrike-tit (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Katherine, NT, July 2020]

Near-dorsal view of a male Northern Shrike-tit (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Katherine, NT, July 2020]

FEMALE

Near-frontal/ventral view of a female Northern Shrike-tit; note the olive-grey bib (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Flora River CR, Victoria Highway, NT, March 2021]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Female Northern Shrike-tit, left, feeding a dependent juvenile (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Flora River CR, Victoria Highway, NT, March 2021]

Food, Diet

Lateral/ventral view of a female Northern Shrike-tit with its prey, a locust (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Flora River CR, Victoria Highway, NT, March 2021]

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.

norstit_20140818.mp3

(Pine Creek, NT)

Contact call(?)

© MD

More Northern Shrike-tit 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.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Tue, 23 March 2021, 3:17 +00:00