Lalage leucomela
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The varied triller (Lalage leucomela) like its better-known relative the white-winged triller, is a smaller member of the cuckoo-shrike family, Campephagidae. Varied trillers prefer warm, reasonably moist environments and are found in New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago, along much of the tropical and sub-tropical coastal hinterland of eastern Australia, from about the Sydney area to the tip of Cape York Peninsula, in the moister part of the Kimberley, and throughout the Top End.
Common to very common in the north, they are uncommon to rare in the colder south. Typical habitat is rainforest, vine forest, riverine thickets, eucalypt forest and woodland, with a particular preference for the border areas between closed and open forests.
Varied trillers work their way slowly and methodically through foliage at any level (sometimes on the ground), searching in pairs or small groups for insects and fruit, and making repeated rolling contact calls almost continuously.
An alternative name is Pied Caterpillar-eater (Karua Leucomela) The Mussau triller (L. conjuncta) was formerly considered a subspecies. ABID Images On the HBW Internet... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Litchfield National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Kakadu National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Lamington National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brisbane | 🇦🇺 Australia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Varied Triller sighting in Brisbane on a given day, based on 929 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 102nd most-seen of the 237 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June to February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Varied Triller in Brisbane on a given day, against under 5% in March to May, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Varied Triller sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Brisbane, in our data
Brisbane is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Varied Triller sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Varied Triller is recorded against all the birds logged in Brisbane (929 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
