Male: Unstreaked grey brown to olive brown above, crown greyer, pale eyebrow. Grey-white throat and breast with dark brown streaks. Eye, reddish-brown, brownish-yellow or cream. Belly buff, flanks washed yellow. Chestnut rump. Dark erect tail, black band on outer tail feathers with white tips. Legs, pink or pinkish-brown. Feet, pink or pinkish-brown.
Female: Underparts duller.
Juveniles: Underparts buffer.
Other Scientific Names
Calamanthus pyrrhopygia [Christidis and Boles (2008)], Hylacola pyrrhopygius [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)]
Chestnut-rumped Heathwren (Hylacola pyrrhopygia) [XC801427]
by id from Gundaroo, Yass Valley Council, New South Wales, Australia (imitation, song, rufous whistler mimicry)
Chestnut-rumped Heathwren (Hylacola pyrrhopygia) [XC142441]
by Greg McLachlan from Kings Plains National Park, New South Wales, Australia (song)
Nest
Dome-shaped, with a side-entrance, composed of grasses and fine bark and lined with feathers, on the ground or in a low bush or tussock.
Eggs (Guide)
2 or 3, sometimes 4; pale pink, freckled and blotched with dark brown, especially at the larger end; oval; about 19 x 14 mm. Incubation: about 14 - 16 days; by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 7 - 18 days. Fed by both parents.
Subspecies
Often placed in genus Calamanthus. Forms a species pair with Shy Heathwren (Calamanthus cautus).
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
pyrrhopygia (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) - Coastal south-eastern Australia southern from granite belt of south-eastern Queensland, inland to western slopes of Great Dividing Range, and extreme south-eastern South Australia and much of Victoria.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet