Chowchilla

Description:

Males and females largely dark brown with white eye-ring, tail-feather shafts extend as spines beyond feather-vanes; males with white throat, breast and belly; females with bright rufous throat and upper breast, white lower breast and belly

Habitat:

Elevated rainforest @ 1000m elevation

Notes:

The Chowchilla is endemic to the Wet Tropics region of Queensland, it is restricted to upland rainforests. It forages in family groups in leaf litter, where it scratches vigorously. Its loud calls vary from place to place so that many local dialects are identifiable. It is also known as the Northern Logrunner, and is one of only two logrunner species. Its tail has adapted to aid in searching for food as it has strong spiny shafts which the bird is able to prop itself against whilst leaning backwards. It then uses one foot to throw leaf litter aside in search for animals to eat. As it does this, the litter tends to cover the bird itself, and it almost disappears from sight. Each flock has its own permanent territory, and groups of approximately 3 to 8 move about quickly together. The birds in each group are probably closely related. At dawn and dusk the Chowchillas sing loudly, a characteristic sound of the upland rainforests. Their strong chorus is similar to that of a lyrebird’s call.