Psophodes olivaceus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
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 |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Whipbird sighting in Royal National Park on a given day, based on 1,305 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 11th most-seen of the 178 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and November
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Whipbird in Royal National Park on a given day, against about 30% in May, the lowest month.
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.
3rd of 9
Of the 9 parks where we can rate Eastern Whipbird sightings, Royal National Park ranks 3rd at about 50%. The best odds are in Lamington National Park (Australia, about 90%) and Springbrook National Park (Australia, about 80%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Eastern Whipbird that you can see in Royal National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Australian Raven (about 70%), Lewin's Honeyeater (about 60%) and Pied Currawong (about 60%), 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 Royal National Park (1,305 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.
