The bird pictured in today’s column is a female Crested Bellbird.
The male is somewhat different in appearance. He does have a brownish back of the head and neck, and along the wings as well.
However he has a black stripe going through the eyes, across his head and down around under his throat. His chest and breast are black. The front of his face is white with bright yellow eyes.
Although I did hear them calling in their very melodious song, when we were on holidays in New South Wales, I did not see either bird at all.
On a different occasion, to have a female land not far in front of me was great which gave me the opportunity to take the illustration here.
Bellbirds are in the same family group as the Whistlers, Shrike-Tits and Shrike-Thrushes. Like other birds in this family group, its food is consists of insects as well as different types of seeds. They search for insects that are found near the ground where they spend much of their time.
The texts tell us that the Crested Bellbirds search for caterpillars which they use to line their nests.
This bird appears to be more of an inland variety and not generally found in coastal areas. It is listed as being a resident of Queensland but not in our area. Areas of trees and scrub with good camouflage on the other side of the Great Dividing Range would be more to its liking.
