Eastern Whipbird

Eastern Whipbird

Psophodes olivaceus

Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR Endemic
Daily sighting probability ~30% · Possible
at Noosa National Park

In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%

143 Verified sightings at Noosa National Park From 2019 to 2026
9,367 In all 9 parks
February Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Eastern Whipbird

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 →

Sounds

Song0:24

Australia · 2024

© Romuald Mikusek · XC1172485 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:10

Australia · 2025

© Marc Anderson · XC1088984 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Duet1:08

Australia · 2024

© Andrew McCafferty · XC979796 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Lamington National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~90%
2 Springbrook National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~80%
3 Royal National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~50%
4 Blue Mountains National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~40%
5 Wilsons Promontory National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~40%
6 Noosa National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~30%
7 Booderee National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~30%
8 Kosciuszko National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
9 Daintree National Park 🇦🇺 Australia
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Brisbane 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
2 Sydney 🇦🇺 Australia
~20%
3 Melbourne 🇦🇺 Australia
<5%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Healesville Sanctuary 🇦🇺 Australia In captivity
2 Taronga Zoo 🇦🇺 Australia In captivity
3 Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park 🇦🇺 Australia In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing an Eastern Whipbird in Noosa National Park?

Possible

About 30% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Whipbird sighting in Noosa National Park on a given day, based on 143 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 18th most-seen of the 128 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see an Eastern Whipbird in Noosa National Park?

January–March, June and September

In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Whipbird in Noosa National Park on a given day, against about 20% in April, August and December, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see an Eastern Whipbird?

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.

Which relatives of the Eastern Whipbird live in Noosa National Park?

Same order: Passeriformes

The closest relatives of the Eastern Whipbird that you can see in Noosa National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Torresian Crow (about 80%), Noisy Miner (about 60%) and Noisy Friarbird (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Eastern Whipbird sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Eastern Whipbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Noosa National Park (143 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.

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