Adults: Above, generally rich olive-brown to brownish-grey. Rump, rufous-brown or rich rust. Wings, darker grey-brown, with paler edges. Tail, dark grey-brown with black subterminal band and grey-buff to white tips on inner webs of all but the central pair of feathers. Face, flecked olive- to pale-grey, scalloped russet to white on forehead. Below, cream- to pure-white grading to olive-brown, grey or yellowish on flanks and undertail. Throat, breast clearly to heavily streaked grey-black. Eye, red. Bill, black. Feet, dusky brown.
Immatures: As adults but duller and more lightly streaked on breast. Eye, brown. Adult plumage gained at general moult in first fall.
Other Names (World)
Brown Thornbill, Brown Tit, Brown-rumped Tit, Large-billed Tit, White-scaled Tit, Broad-tailed Thornbill, Scrub Thornbill, Dusky Warbler, Dwarf Warbler, Browntail, Inland Thornbill, Red-rumped Thornbill, Whitlock's Thornbill, Whitlock's Tit, Tanami Tit, Lake Way Tit, Tit-bat
Food
Mainly insects, but occasionally seeds and nectar.
Voice
Call: Soft chips and a plaintive whistle, 'seee' (inland subspecies only) in contact. A harsh staccato buzzing churring in alarm. Song: A series of whistled twitters, ending in short swirled metallic trill. Mimicry often interwoven and more varied and protracted in inland grey subspecies.
Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) [XC490464]
by Ramit Singal from Werrikimbe National Park, Australia (song)
Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) [XC859585]
by Peter Boesman from Point Addis, Victoria, Australia (call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
June - December; in colder areas can start as late as September.
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Nest
Dome-shaped, with an entrance near the top. Composed of bark, grasses and webbing, lined with feathers and other soft materials, attached to bracken fern or a low bush.
Eggs (Guide)
2, usually three; white to pale flesh, liberally speckled and blotched with red-brown, mostly at the large end; oblong-oval; about 16 x 12 mm. Incubation: 17 - 21 days; by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 15 - 16 days.
Subspecies
Acanthiza pusilla (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) and Inland Thornbill (Acanthiza apicalis) following Christidis and Boles (1994).
Taxonomy complex. Has been thought to form a superspecies with Mountain Thornbill (Acanthiza katherina). Probably forms a superspecies with Inland Thornbill (Acanthiza apicalis), with which has often treated as conspecific. Some hybridization between the two likely in south-eastern South Australia, where individuals with intermediate plumage occur.
Proposed subspecies mcgilli (Clarke Range north to Proserpine, in eastern Queensland) is considered synonymous with dawsonensis. Proposed subspecies bunya (eastern Queensland southern from Broad Sound, and north-eastern New South Wales south, east of Great Dividing Range, to R Tweed) seems to relate to an intergrade population between nominate and dawsonensis.
The following 7 subspecies are recognised:
dawsonensis Campbell, AG, 1922 - Coastal ranges of central-eastern Queensland, in eastern Australia.
pusilla (White, 1790) - Coasts of from south-eastern Queensland south to Victoria and south-eastern South Australia.
zietzi North, 1904 - Kangaroo I, off South Australia.
archibaldi Mathews, 1910 - King I, in Bass Strait.
diemenensis Gould, 1838 - Kent Group (in north-eastern Bass Strait) and Tasmania (mainly central and east).
samueli Mathews, 1913 - Southern Australia (Mount Lofty Ranges).
magnirostris Campbell, AJ, 1903 - King I. (Bass Strait).
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