Pachycephalidae Whistlers and Allies

This diverse group of big-headed, heavy-shouldered songbirds is largely limited to the Australo-Papuan region, with only three species making it across Wallace’s Line into Borneo, the Philippines, and the west coast of Southeast Asia. The gray and brown shrike-thrushes, the plainest members of this family, have some of the most beautiful songs in all the world, their haunting, strong, and ethereal whistles making the dawn choruses in their home region as moving, and recognizable, as those anywhere. For an as yet unknown reason, these birds have a simpler social behavior than most corvoids, and as far as we can tell, cooperative breeding has not yet been reported in this group.