Bird of the Month: Jacky Winter July 2021
Jacky Winters are those sweet little birds you see on fencelines at the airport and water treatment plant at Mallacoota. They are cute but plain, grey-brown and completely lacking distinguishing colours or markings, except for the brilliant white outer feathers of the tail. But there’s something brave and charming about them – a bit like Willie Wagtails and Eastern Yellow Robins.
You can know these birds using only your ears, or a brief view from a moving car. Their identification usually relies on behaviour, shape and call.
Look for an upright bird, alone on a fencewire, staying still for long periods. Sometimes there is another one on another wire. They prefer open country, and are often seen on farmland with grassy paddocks. They use the ground a lot too, and regularly fly up to the same spot on the fence, making them excellent photography subjects.
They have a habit of swinging their tail from side to side, and sometimes you can see the white outer feathers.
Most of the books describe the call as peter-peter-peter or witta-witta-witta but I’m most used to hearing a single note, strong piercing call. They also do some mimicry.
Jacky Winters start out as spotty juveniles like most of our robins (see Jack Winterbottom’s pic below). But within a few weeks they look just like adults, with only a few white tips to their wing coverts to show they are young (see Jack Winterbottom’s pic of an immature above). I remember seeing a really big, adult-looking Jacky Winter screaming for food, while I was running a trip at Mungo NP, NSW. I couldn’t believe it was a juvenile. But the carry-on was very juvenile! The parent fed the hungry monster a caterpillar, and flew off, relieved for a moment’s respite I think.
The most similar bird in our area is the Golden Whistler female. But she’s bigger, with a stout bill, often has a tinge of warmer colour (red-brown and yellow) and lacks the dark stripe through the eye. Check out the pic following that shows a young Golden Whistler left (pic by John Hutchison), Jacky Winter right (pic by Jack Winterbottom).
My feeling that they are like Willie Wagtails and Eastern Yellow Robins comes from their behaviour. They are all brave little insect hunters, who perch and pounce, and can be quite relaxed with people. Jacky Winters are actually robins, so very closely related to Eastern Yellow Robin. This group are also known as flyrobins, or Australasian Robins (family: Petroicidae), to separate them from the European Robin, a flycatcher (family: Muscicapidae); which is unrelated to the American Robin, a thrush (family: Turdidae).
Willie Wagtail is an Australian Fantail, and not far removed from the flyrobins either.
Interesting that Martin Butterfield has found they are much more often seen around Mallacoota in winter.
LISTEN TO THE CALLS and scroll through to see lots of great pics here: https://ebird.org/species/jacwin1?siteLanguage=en_AU
Details: Jacky Winter Microeca fascinans fascinans
Location: southern, eastern and northern Australia, with the exception of the north-west of WA, most of the inland, and Tasmania. Our subspecies fascinans is the largest, and lives in SE SA, most of Vic & NSW and the eastern half of QLD.
Conservation status/learn more: https://www.birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/jacky-winter
Thanks to Alison Nisbett, Christine Rand, Craig Boase, Jack Winterbottom, Rob Clay, Michael Barnett & Gregory Storer and Martin Butterfield for your wonderful pics and information.
Mallacoota Birds 