At first, I thought these birds were Noisy Miners, which are very common on the east coast of Australia where I live. However, we were out west at Mungo National Park, and the birds were Yellow-throated Miners.

Common name: Yellow-throated Miner
Scientific name: Manorina favigula
Approximate length: 26-28 cm
Date spotted: 20-21 May 2024 (autumn)
Location: Mungo Lodge, Mungo National Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°44’31.4″S 143°00’06.1″E

As you’d expect from the name, this bird has more yellow around its face and head than does the Noisy Miner. Here’s a Noisy Miner for comparison:

Just like their noisy cousins, it seems that the Yellow-throated Miners are territorial and fear nothing. These two were seeing off a Noisy Friarbird:

I have better pictures of Noisy Friarbirds in another post.