Lalage sueurii
White-winged Trillers are summer migrants. They have a strong preference for woodlands but may be seen passing through the suburbs in spring, or staying on in suitable habitat adjacent to the suburbs. They are quite vocal when they first arrive in about September. After peaking in October/November, numbers decrease and there is no second peak in autumn when the birds go north again.
High numbers of sightings in the first year of the survey included many pairs and larger groups from many sites. In the later years of the survey most of the very few records were isolated sightings of single birds. Although the first year may have been exceptional, the number of observations each year has been fairly constant over the last two decades.
Breeding records appear also to be in decline, with 13 records being from the first nine years of the survey, but only one breeding event (nesting) at a site in Curtin in 2003-04 and again 2004-05, and dependent young reported at the same site in 2007-08. The breeding period appears to be short, with nesting from late October to late December and dependent young from late November to mid-February. R=96. BR=47.
