White-fronted Chat

WHITE-FRONTED CHAT ( Epthianura-albifrons)

There were a number of these little birds about the edge of the sewerage ponds the other day.



I often see them, usually at a distance. They are very hard to get close to. The moment I  begin to get close and lift my head above the pond bank, they are away.

They don't travel far, thirty or forty metres, just far enough to be out of range of the camera. Then they stop, sit on some rocks or on the stems of a shrub and watch. "Well what are you going to do now?" they say.

 If I try to move forward on my my belly with my head well down, one or more will fly up over the bank to see where I am doing. They soon pass the message along before moving on another thirty or forty metres.


They are often on groups of ten to twenty, but just as often a single bird will be sitting amongst the rocks on the edge of a pond.

The first of these pictures show males with quite strong markings. They have a black half cap which extends down to the bib across the breast.

The female in the lower photograph has much more subtle colouring. She does not have the black cap of the male, more a grey buff coloured cape covering her head and shoulders.