Psophodes olivaceus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The eastern whipbird (Psophodes olivaceus) is an insectivorous passerine bird native to the east coast of Australia. Its whip-crack song is a familiar sound in forests of eastern Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Heard much more often than seen, it is dark olive-green and black in colour with a distinctive white cheek patch and a crest. The male and female are similar in plumage.
The eastern whipbird was mistakenly described by John Latham as two separate species in 1801 from early colonial illustrations, first as the white-cheeked crow (Corvus olivaceus) and as the coachwhip flycatcher (Muscicapa crepitans). The bird became commonly known as coachwhip bird or stockwhip bird. John Gould recorded the aboriginal term Djou from the Hunter Region of New South Wales.
Its specific name is derived from its olive colouration, though it was soon placed in the new genus Psophodes by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield, derived from the Greek psophōdes/ψοφωδης meaning 'noisy'. The family placement has changed, some now placing it in a large broadly defined inclusive Corvidae, while others split it and several other genera into the quail-thrush family Cinclosomatidae... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lamington National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Wilsons Promontory National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Booderee National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Kosciuszko National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Healesville Sanctuary | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Taronga Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Whipbird sighting in Sydney on a given day, based on 2,891 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 47th most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August to January
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Whipbird in Sydney on a given day, against about 10% in February to July, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eastern Whipbird sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 3 cities where we can rate Eastern Whipbird sightings, Sydney ranks 2nd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Brisbane (Australia, about 20%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Eastern Whipbird that you can see in Sydney (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Noisy Miner (about 90%), Australian Magpie (about 80%) and Australian Raven (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eastern Whipbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Sydney (2,891 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.
