Australasian Birds

Pachycephalidae : Whistlers

Western Whistler

Pachycephala occidentalis

male - Western Australia - September 2015

On the basis of extensive genetic studies covering the whole Golden Whistler complex, Western Whistler was split from Golden Whistler by the IOC in December 2014 – a result which took many people by surprise as prior to this study it had not even been recognised as a subspecies! The split has not yet been recognised by HBW (the taxonomy followed on this website) but I've included it here as the majority of new Australian literature and the regional authorites follow the split.

It is very similar in appearance to Golden Whistler but it is luckily the only member of the Golden Whistler complex found in almost the entirity of its range (SW Australia from Perth to Esperence with a few records stretching just across the border of South Australia) so if you see a "Golden Whistler" in SW Australia it is almost certainly a Western Whistler. The subtle differences listed for separating males are: a slightly narrower golden collar; a slightly paler back; the breast is lemon-yellow rather than sulphur yellow and fades to a whiter vent than the fuliginosa subspecies of Golden Whistler (the subspecies with a range closest to Western Whistler in coastal west South Australia); and a lighter grey tail with a narrower black subterminal band. All of these features, except for the whiter vent, are visble in the above photo.

immature male - Western Australia - September 2015