Bird of the month: Silvereye lateralis and All at Once SciArty installation at Castlemaine State Festival.
Posted on 30 March, 2026 by Lori
Bird of the Month is a partnership between Connecting Country and BirdLife Castlemaine District. Each month we take a closer look at a special local bird species thanks to the brilliant Jane Rusden and Damian Kelly. This month they take us on an exploration of the migration habits of Silvereye lateralis, as beautifully detailed through art in the recent All at Once exhibition as part of the Castlemaine State Festival.
Life size model of Silvereye lateralis, in the All at Once installation, the Goods Shed, Castlemaine. Photo by Jane Rusden
Lately Damian and Jane have been working hard on researching the Tasmanian breeding race Silveryeye lateralis, and their incredible migration behaviour. As part of the Castlemaine State Festival, they have collaborated with an amazing group of fellow scientists and artists and helped build the All at Once installation, located in The Goods Shed, near Castlemaine railway station. The result is an artistic expression of the migration many Silvereyes make across Bass Strait and back each year.
Silvereyes weigh a tiny 10grams, their wing span is 17cm and bill tip to tail tip only 15cm. There are life size models in the All at Once exhibit, if you like to see for yourself how small they are. Despite their petite size, many of the Tasmanian breeding Silvereyes migrate to South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and southern Queensland for the winter months, returning to Tasmanian in spring. You may see these Silvereyes in your garden in Castlemaine.
The specific route these Silvereyes are using to cross Bass Strait and make their way to gardens in Castlemaine, is not entirely known. But it’s thought they fly from the northern eastern shore of Tasmania to Cape Liptrap and Wilson’s Promontory, via the Furneaux Group of islands. They probably partly use fat stores to fuel their journey, but also drop in to the islands to forage and rest.
The All at Once installation at the Goods Shed explores the migration habits of Silvereye latoralisJane Rusden)
Some rough distances the Silveyes cover:
- North east Tasmanian, cross Bass Strait to Wilson’s Promontory 240km.
- Wilson’s Promontory to Castlemaine 330km.
- Wilson’s Promontory to Brisbane 1800km.
- Maximum distance across ocean 50km.
Just before the Silvereyes lateralis flock departs Wilson’s Promontory, they make a specific contact call which is thought to organise the flock whilst migrating. They prefer to leave an hour before dawn on dry days, but will also leave at night. Navigation is via the earths magnetic field, sun position and learned route finding. When they head out over the ocean from Wilson’s Promontory, they fly due south, which means at some point their course is corrected so they find the islands.
So how do you know if you’re looking at a Silvereye lateralis? Unlike the other races of Silvereyes in Australia, their flanks are a buff or tan colour, harder to see is their pale or white colouring under their chin and around the vent area under the tail. Interestingly, bird banding showed the same pair of Silvereyes turning up in a Sydney garden 3 times in 4 years, so we know they return to places they have been before, year after year.
The silver or white ring around the Sivereyes eye, is a ring of tiny white feathers. Isn’t that beautiful.
Silvereye lateralis, with obvious buff flanks. Photo by Damian Kelly.
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