Mystery Bird Mt Messenger, Taranaki

[Threeps]

Can anyone help ID this bird that I spotted with Peter Fryer on Mt Messenger last weekend? This was the only image I could get. It was hanging around a very vocal whitehead that was not partial to our company. We initially thought it might have been a young long-tailed cuckoo that the whitehead was feeding but I've not been able to find an image online that could convince me. We heard at least four long-tailed cuckoos on this trip. https://ebird.org/atlasnz/checklist/S63299236

The bird was slightly larger than the adult whitehead. We did not hear any vocalisations from it. It flew very easily through the deep canopy above our heads hung around for 45-60 secs then disappeared. Observed through the glasses the green on the abdomen was more vivid and the colour on the face and forehead was richer and ruddier.

[SomesBirder]

Female bellbird with pollen on its head?

[bombaydave2]

Male juvenile chaffinch

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Head looks chaffinch to me. Long-tailed cuckoo would be substantially larger than a whitehead.

[Threeps]

mmmm...I doubt that its a chaffinch, the beak was much too slender. I'm more inclined to go with a female bellbird with a dusting of flax pollen

[simon.fordham]

I agree with the chaffinch suggestion. The beak is more of an underside view, hence why it looks slender. Certainly the wrong shape for a bellbird. The yellowy-green rump is also diagnostic for chaffinch.

Simon

[SomesBirder]

Sorry; I didn't realise that the lower belly and tail feathers were visible when I made my guess.