Home Log Out
Birdpedia - Panama         | Home | Birds | Calendar | Reserves | Field Trips | Sightings | Reports | Contacts | [HBW - BirdLife (v3)] 25/05/2024 05:59:30 AM
Species Database
Find
Quick Links
News
 
Species Details [Taxonomy: HBW - BirdLife (v3)] Print... Email... 

 LC    Grey Whistler* Id (Atlas):
    Pachycephala simplex

Description (10)
Image of Grey Whistler
 

Other Names (World)
Grey Whistler, Gray Whistler, Brown Whistler, Grey-headed Whistler, Gray-headed Whistler, Grey-headed Thickhead, Gray-headed Thickhead, Brown Thickhead, Whistler, Grey Thickhead, Gray Thickhead, York Thickhead

Family
Pachycephalidae (Whistlers)

Size
14 - 15 cm

First Described (Guide)
Gould, 1843

Derivation
Pach'-y-ceph-al-a - Gk, pachys, thick; Gk, cephale, head: sim'-plex - L., plain

Habitat
Mainly dense vegetation including rainforest and mangroves.

Range (Guide)
Australia (B), Indonesia, Papua New Guinea.

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Habits
Usually singly or in twos.

Food
Mainly insects but occasionally seeds.

Voice
Clear, sharp, penetrating, short whistles, often slow and deliberate, with a rise then fall, 'wheet, whit, wiet, wheat, whieew'. Lacks final whip-crack.



Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (67)...)

 
Grey Whistler (Pachycephala simplex) [XC823051]
     by Nick Athanas from Lee Point, Darwin Municipality, Northern Territory, Australia (call, song)

 
Grey Whistler (Pachycephala simplex) [XC171190]
     by Phil Gregory from Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia (song)

Nest
Cup-shaped, loosely composed of fiber and dead leaves, interwoven with rootlets and tendrils, sparsely lined with dead grass and tendrils, usually in the upright fork of a small sapling.

Eggs (Guide)
2; glossy, white, with umber and purple-grey spots, mostly at the larger end; oval; about 21 x 16 mm.

Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Probably fed by both parents.

Subspecies
Brown Whistler (Pachycephala griseiceps) and Grey Whistler (Pachycephala simplex) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Pachycephala simplex following Christidis and Boles (1994).

The following 12 subspecies are recognised:

  • simplex Gould, 1843   -  Northern Northern Territory (Port Keats east to Port Bradshaw, including Melville I and Groote Eylandt), in northern Australia.
  • waigeuensis Stresemann and Paludan, 1932   -  Northern West Papuan Is (Gebe, Waigeo).
  • gagiensis Mayr, 1940   -  Gagi I (south-west of Waigeo).
  • griseiceps Gray, GR, 1858   -  West Papuan Is (Salawati, Batanta, Misool), north-western New Guinea (Vogelkop east to head of Geelvink Bay) and Aru Is. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Brown Whistler (Pachycephala griseiceps).
  • miosnomensis Salvadori, 1879   -  Meos Num (in Geelvink Bay).
  • jobiensis Meyer, AB, 1874   -  Northern New Guinea from Yapen Is and eastern coast of Geelvink Bay east to Astrolabe Bay.
  • rufipennis Gray, GR, 1858   -  Kai Is.
  • perneglecta E. J. O. Hartert, 1930   -  Southern New Guinea from foot of Weyland Mts (south from R Mimika) east, including Daru I, to Galley Reach.
  • dubia E. P. Ramsay, 1879   -  South-eastern New Guinea eastern from Huon Peninsula and, in south, from Sogeri District and R Laloki, and D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago (Goodenough I, Fergusson I, Normanby I).
  • sudestensis (De Vis, 1892)   -  Louisiade Archipelago (Tagula I), east of D’Entrecasteaux. (New Guinea).
  • peninsulae Hartert, 1899   -  North-eastern Queensland (Cape York Peninsula south to Cairns district), in north-eastern Australia.
  • brunnescens Wolters, 1980   -  South-eastern New Guinea and D'Entrecasteaux Archipelago.



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


Files:
JPG files for Grey Whistler (Pachycephala simplex) - 10 filesMP3 files for Grey Whistler (Pachycephala simplex) - 1 files


More Information

BirdLife International

For more information about the Grey Whistler see... Show Articles BirdLife International Species Factsheet.


Articles about the Grey Whistler

If you would like to read any articles about the Grey Whistler... Show Articles Show Articles (0)


No Pictures of Grey Whistler

If Birdpedia has no pictures of Grey Whistler or you would like to see more, then try the following...

      Show External Images from BING From BING (10)


No Videos of Grey Whistler

If Birdpedia has no videos of Grey Whistler or you would like to see more, then try the following..

      Show External Videos From BING (0)