Adults: Above, plain rich to pale olive-green. Primaries dull brown-grey edged with olive-yellow. Tail, browner, with black bar near tip. Dull white spots over lores and white shaft streaks on cheek. Chin and throat, yellow washed with buff. Below, plain pale to rich yellow. Flanks, darker. Eye, brown. Bill, pink-brown or black. Feet, dark grey-brown.
Immatures: As adults, slightly duller.
Other Names (World)
Yellow Thornbill, Little Thornbill, Yellow-breasted Tomtit, Little Tit, Mathew’s Tit, Yellow Tit, Yellow Dicky
Food
Insects. Unlike the Striated Thornbill (Acanthiza lineata) and Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris), they usually avoid eucalypts, keeping to thickets of Acacia, Casuarina, Callitris, Melaleuca and chenopod bushes.
Voice
Call: Stereotyped harsh, clipped double-note chip, 'tzid-id', sometimes varied with extra chips, 'tzid-id, tis-tis' carrying and repeated at regular intervals, perhaps both in contact and to advertise territory. More animated buzzing chipping in group interactions. Song: None.
Nest
Very small, domed, with an entrance near the top, composed of bark and grasses, often ornamented with moss, lined with feathers or fur. Placed among the outer or top branches of a leafy tree.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 4, usually 3; flesh-white with red-brown freckles and a few lilac spots; oblong-oval; about 16 x 12 mm.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fed by both parents.
Subspecies
Nominate subspecies and modesta intergrade.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
nana Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 - Coastal and subcoastal south-eastern Australia from Moreton Bay, inland to the eastern slopes of the Great Divide and south to Naroooma - Eden, New South Wales.
modesta De Vis, 1905 - Inland eastern Australia west of the Great Divide, from coastal central-eastern Qld, west to Darling River and southern Flinders Ranges and south to central Victoria and Murray - mallee, SA, with outliers in southern and eastern Gippslands through to Port Phillip bay, Vic.
flava White, HL, 1922 - Atherton - Evelyn Uplands, north-eastern Qld, between Herbeton and Ravenshoe.
Similar Species
Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris), which has a smaller cream colored bill, Striated Thornbill (Acanthiza lineata), which has striations on the breast, Fairy Gerygone (Gerygone palpebrosa), Queensland only, White-throated Gerygone (Gerygone olivacea), which has a darker rump.
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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BirdLife International Species Factsheet