White-winged Triller (Lalage tricolor)

Other Names (World)
White-winged Triller, Australian White-winged Triller, White-shouldered Caterpillar-eater, Jardine Caterpillar-eater, Jardine's Caterpillar-eater, White-winged Caterpillar-eater, White-shouldered Triller, Jardine Triller, Jardine's Triller, Caterpillar-eater, Caterpillar-catcher, Peewee-lark, Triller

Family
Campephagidae (Cuckooshrikes)

Size
16 - 18 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Swainson, 1825)

Derivation
Lal'-a-ge - Lalage, girl's name (classical): sueurii - C.A. Le Sueur (1778 - 1846), French geologist and artist

Abundance (Guide)
LC - UC

Common, sedentary and locally nomadic in the north. Uncommon, summer breeding migrant in the south.

Habitat
Mainly dry eucalypt woodlands, lightly timbered with a sparse and open shrub layer and grassy ground-cover.

Range (Guide)

Australia, Papua New Guinea.

Vagrant to New Zealand.

Australia, including Melville I and Tasmania; also south-eastern New Guinea (Port Moresby area).

Throughout continental Australia. Straggler to Tasmania. Also New Guinea and Timor.

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
Secure.

For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Habits
Singly or in twos, probably pairs, and small loose flocks of up to ten. Occasionally larger flocks of up to seventy, especially during fall - winter and on passage.

Food
Arthropods, mainly insects. Also fruit, seeds and occasionally nectar.

Voice
A clear, descending 'chiff-chiff-joey-joey-joey'. Also a canary-like trill.

(34Kb) © ? (1)

Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (34)...)

White-winged Triller (Lalage tricolor) [XC689143]
by Marc Anderson from Paroo Darling National Park, New South Wales, Australia (song)

White-winged Triller (Lalage tricolor) [XC609606]
by Marc Anderson from Paroo Darling National Park, New South Wales, Australia (song)

Breeding Season (Guide)
August - March.

Nest
Small, open, shallow, composed of fine rootlets and dry grass, bound with cobweb, placed in the fork of a tree, from 1 - 10 m above the ground.

Eggs (Guide)
2 or 3; blue or green-tinged, blotched and streaked with red-brown; oblong-oval; about 21 x 15 mm. Incubation: about 14 days; by both sexes.

Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 12 - 14 days.

Subspecies
No subspecies.

Lalage sueurii and Lalage tricolor (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993), cross-regional species, are retained as separate species contra Christidis and Boles (1994) who include tricolor as a subspecies of White-shouldered Triller (Lalage sueurii).

May form a superspecies with White-shouldered Triller (Lalage sueurii) and sometimes considered conspecific.

Similar Species
Female with female Varied Triller (Lalage leucomela) which has a whiter eyebrow, bold white, wing bars, and has buffer underparts, and male with male Varied Triller (Lalage leucomela) which has a white eyebrow, bold white wingbars and has yellow-buff underparts. In male breeding and brown plumages with Pied Honeyeater (Certhionyx variegatus) and in brown plumages with Rufous Songlark (Cincloramphus mathewsi) and Australian Pipit (Anthus australis).

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References
See References.

The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9

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