Adults: Above, mid brown often with olive wash. Rump and base of tail, yellow. Wings, grey-brown. Tail, black, with white tips to all outer feathers. Forehead, black spotted with white. Eyebrow, white. Lores, dusky. Cheeks, flecked dusky and white. Below, plain dull white. Flanks, buffer. Eye, grey-white. Bill, black. Feet, dark grey.
Eastern Australia and Tasmania, except coastal north-eastern Queensland, north to Rockhampton, west through central Australia, north to central Tennant Crek. Widespread southern Western Australia, north to central Wiluna - Port Hedland. Absent from the driest deserts.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Food
Insects, spiders, caterpillars and occasionally seeds, picked mainly from the ground.
Voice
Call: Sharp repeated 'tchip' in contact in flight. A distinctive 'tinkling', not unlike that of an European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), but not as loud, given while foraging. An equally distinctive "tang", usually heard as the birds fly away! Song: Descending rich twitttered warble, repeated rapidly tow or three times in cycles.
Nest
Domed, with false upper nest and chamber with concealed side entrance beneath, of grass and plant fiber bound with spiders' web, lined with down and feathers, slung in the outer foliage, 1 - 5 meters above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
3 or 4; pale flesh, sparingly dotted at the larger end with red-brown; oblong-oval; about 18 x 13 mm. Incubation: about 19 days; by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 17 - 21 days. Fed by both parents.
Subspecies
Proposed subspecies are ferdinandi (west-central Australia, also Great Victoria Desert), which evidently relates to intergrading populations; sandlandi (coastal south-central and south-eastern Australia) and addenda (north-western Victoria), both considered synonyms of leighi; and pallida (arid parts of Western Australia) and multi (humid south-western Western Australia), both synonymized with nominate.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
chrysorrhoa (Quoy & Gaimard, 1830) - Central-western, south-western and southern western Australia.
normantoni (Mathews, 1913) - Central and inland north-eastern Australia.
leighi Ogilvie-Grant, 1909 - Southern and south-eastern Australia.
leachi Mathews, 1912 - Northern and eastern Tasmania.
Similar Species
None, really, though very inexperienced observers may wish to eliminate Buff-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza reguloides), which has a much paler rump, Slender-billed Thornbill (Acanthiza iredalei), which has an off-white to pale yellow rump, and Spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus).
Compare Images
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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