Adults: Above, generally olive-brown. Upper tail-coverts, washed russet. Wings, dark grey-brown, primaries edged broadly russet, contrasting with black coverts. tail, dark grey-brown with black subterminal band and grey-buff tips to inner webs of all but the central pair of feathers. Forehead, washed chestnut, faintly scalloped dusky. Face, grey-brown with lighter flecks and pale grey lores. Throat and breast, grey-white, flecked and mottled dusky grey. Lower breast to flanks and belly, buff-grey with white center. Undertail coverts, white. Eye, red. Bill, dusky black. Feet, dusky brown.
Immatures: As adults but paler. Under tail-coverts, greyer. Eye, dark brown.
Other Names (World)
Tasmanian Thornbill, Ewing's Thornbill, Ewing's Tit, Ewing's Tit-warbler, Browntail, Creek Tit
Food
Insects gleaned from leaves and outer branches of shrubs and trees, and occasionally seeds.
Voice
Call: Thin, reedy, twittered 'tsirp, tsirp', repeated three or four times, in contact; soft staccato buzzing churring in alarm. Song: Whistled, warbling, twitters, often starting with contact call followed by short, swirled metallic trill.
Nest
Dome shaped, with a rounded side-entrance, made of thin bark-strips, dry grass and moss, lined with feathers and fur, suspended in the dense foliage of a sapling, usually within four meters of the ground, occasionally higher.
Eggs (Guide)
3 or 4; pinkish white, finely speckled with red-brown, mainly at the larger end; oblong-oval; about 18 x 13 mm.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fed by both parents.
Subspecies
Sympatric with Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla).
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
rufifrons Campbell, AJ, 1903 - King I, in western Bass Strait, off south-eastern Australia.
ewingii Gould, 1844 - Furneaux Group (eastern Bass Strait) and mainland Tasmania.
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