On the mainland Olive Whistlers are uncommon compared with Golden and Rufous Whistlers. In the East Gippsland region, comprising the Wellington and East Gippsland LGA’s, out of all the Birdata surveys which include the three Whistler species found in the region, the number of birds reported are; Olive 273, Golden 5,514 and Rufous 9,363.
Clearly the abundance of the Olive Whistler is very low compared with the Golden and Rufous, even taking into account the likely under reporting of Olives due to their retiring habit and tendency to inhabit dense undergrowth in wet forest habitats and higher more remote country during the summer. The Olive Whistler’s distinctive call is often the first indication of their presence.
Olive Whistlers are altitudinal migrants moving to higher elevations over the warmer months. On a recent (23/10/2025) visit to the Mt St Gwinear area in the Baw Baw National Park, several Olive Whistlers were heard calling by the carpark in Snow Gum (E pauciflora) woodland. After observing for a while I concluded there were two pairs with the males calling to advertise and claim adjacent spring breeding territories.
The following photos were obtained of one of the males (note the grey head – females have a brown head).
NOTE: You can left click on any photo to open a slide show of the photos free of text or a right click enables one photo at a time to be opened in a New Tab where an enlarged version can be viewed.
BirdLife East Gippsland members have recorded a total of 4,619 surveys in Birdata, of which only 34 surveys include sightings of Olive Whistler (Golden 1,218 and Rufous 596) – a further testament to just how rare this whistler is.
