Grey Shrike-thrush
Fledgling Front
Ellura
Grey Shrike-thrush
Juvenile Front
 
                 
Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica ssp harmonica)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Birds (Aves)
Order: Perching Birds (Passeriformes)
Family: Whistler (Pachycephalidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica ssp harmonica)
This Photo:     Fledgling Profile

Thank you Tony and Jenny Dominelli (Cinclosoma) & David Mules for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Adelaide Hills, the Flinders Ranges and elsewhere
What a song. Pretty, but plain-coloured (grey shades)
Juveniles: rufous eye + breast markings.
Male Adults have a white patch between the eyes and the beak (ie the lores). But this patch isn't easy to see, depending on lighting & angle. So seeing a white lores means you have a male, while not seeing a white lores doesn't guarantee you have a female.
The female has a white eye ring.
Both genders sing, not just the male.
We've just added photo's of eggs & chicks. These were taken over 3 years observing the same nest in our carport. Notice the eggs look different, even though they are the same species (possibly/likely the same parents/mother). Also notice there were 3 eggs/chicks each time. We didn't get a full sequence in one year as we were trying not to disturb them (ie photographing caused the parent to fly away). Everytime we came home from work/shops, etc, the parent would leave. Being a cold environment, we were concerned about the viability of the eggs & chicks with the parents leaving so often. It wasn't an ideal place for the nest, but gave us the opportunity to observe & record them. We think they fledged at about 14 days old or so, but can't be sure.
As can be seen by the binomial name, this is the nominate subspecies.

Copyright © 2012-2026 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 24-Oct-2012
This species is classed as LC (Least Concern) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)