Tricky birds: revisiting Thornbills

Posted on 1 July, 2021 by Ivan

In August 2020, Connecting Country collaborated with birding experts Geoff Park and Chris Tzaros for our much-anticipated event, ‘Tricky Birds of central Victoria with Geoff Park and Chris Tzaros’. This online free event sold out with 500 bookings recorded the day before the event. We were absolutely thrilled to host this event with Geoff and Chris, who shared their tips for birding in central Victoria.

Geoff covered tips on raptor identification and Chris focused on the tricky topic of identifying thornbills of central Victoria, followed by an hour of interactive panel discussion and a chance to ask the experts those tricky bird watching questions. Both of the presentations were delivered with the passion and precision you would expect from leading bird experts and outstanding photographers, with many beautiful images and helpful tips about identifying these look-a-like birds that can be difficult to distinguish.

To get some further tips on identifying Thornbills, you may like to visit Geoff Park’s recent posts below, through his much-loved Natural Newstead blog. This recently published three-part blog series, is an absolute treat for anyone who loves birds, highlighting a variety of thornbill species. It features stunning photographs and an excellent overview of the tricky thornbills. Please find the three blogs below:

Part 1: Striated Thornbills

Part 2: Brown Thornbills

Part 3: Yellow Thornbills

The Striated Thornbill is a medium-sized thornbill with greenish upperparts (photo: Geoff Park)

To see the ‘Tricky Birds’ presentations (PDF) delivered by Geoff Park and Chris Tzaros and discover more about the Connecting Country event, please click on the link below. We sure did learn a lot and the audience was thrilled to see these two leading bird ecologists provide valuable identification skills for tricky birds.