The elusive Western Whipbird on song in Warrenben

Posted on: 3rd September 2020

Hearing the elusive Western Whipbird is a treat in itself, but seeing one (and capturing its photo) is like striking gold!

Contract Ecologist Sam Gordon couldn’t believe their luck in late August when finally coming face to face with a Western Whipbird (also known as the White-bellied Whipbird) in Warrenben Conservation Park on southern Yorke Peninsula.

Here’s what Sam had to say:

“After hearing several birds near survey sites in Warrenben, on the third day of surveys I came across this individual absolutely going off in song. I managed to sneak up to within ~ten metres of where the amazingly loud cycling call was coming from, and for a few seconds the bird hopped up onto a branch and looked right at me, before dropping back down and continuing its impressive vocal display.”

Sam was surveying Western Whipbirds as part of the Marna Banggara project, a landscape restoration project that creates a safe haven for some of Australia’s most threatened native species. An endangered species on southern Yorke Peninsula, Western Whipbirds are a priority for us to monitor as the project progresses.