Day of the Two Trillers

According to Wikipedia, a 'Triller" is a small kind of cuckoo-shrike found around Asia, Australia and some Pacific Islands. Australia has two, the White-winged Triller and the Varied Triller.

I first encountered a Triller in Toowoomba around the end of the last century. I found a small black and white bird laying on the ground in a suburban front yard. It was alive but obviously out of it when I picked it up. It was underneath a large, lone tree but far away from windows or streets. Sadly it passed away in my hands in just minutes. I identified it as a Varied Triller and I have always been puzzled as to what had happened to it. It was far from its natural habitat. I suspect it was a victim of land clearing. 

Time went by and on September 28, 2014, Michael Atzeni and I encountered a White-winged Triller at the Wyreema poo ponds, at around 7:30 in the morning. Mick and I had a nice morning birding for a couple of hours. Later in the day, I was stir crazy, and family and I went for a look at the scenery at Prince Henry Drive. I abandoned my family to the car when I saw Fairy-wrens and finches in the grass and lantana. (Of course, just for a minute as any birder would say) As I approached the small birds a black and white bird flew out in the open right under my nose. I managed just a couple of shots before the camera's shutter revealed it had gone. It was a Varied Triller. Two birds in the bush on the same day! Australia's two Trillers.