Population
Estimated population is 4,000 - 28,000 (2010).
Status LC
Habitat destruction and degradation through clearing, fires and predation by feral cat and foxes are the main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Habits
Singly, less often in pairs.
Food
Invertebrates, fruit and seeds.
Voice
A clear, ringing whistle. A series of clear, sharp notes leading into a stronger, quick, double whip-crack, the female often repeating the last notes, 'chip-chip-chip-chip-chee-o-whip'.
Rufous Bristlebird (Dasyornis broadbenti) [XC181821]
by Mark Harper from Loch Ard Gorge, VIC, Australia (call)
Rufous Bristlebird (Dasyornis broadbenti) [XC871671]
by Sunny Tseng from Island Arch Lookout, Australia (song)
Nest
Oval, with a side-entrance, composed of dry leaves and grasses, lined with finer materials, placed in a tussok or low thick bush.
Eggs (Guide)
2, often only one is fertile; whitish, freckled heavily and uniformly red and purplish; oval; about 27 x 21 mm. Incubation: 16 - 21 days; by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 18 - 19 days.
Subspecies
Proposed subspecies whitei, from south-eastern South Australia (eastern from Coorong area and Younghusband Peninsula) and adjacent extreme south-western Victoria (R Glenelg), considered inseparable from nominate.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
broadbenti (Milligan, 1902) - Coastal western Victoria and south-eastern SA, between Portland Bay and The Coorong.
caryochrous Schodde & Mason, IJ, 1999 - Otway Peninsula, Vic., west to Peterborough on the coast.
litoralis! (Milligan, 1902) - Coastal south-western WA, between Cape Mentelle - Magaret River and Cape Naturaliste, but considered extinct, probably the result of wildfire. Last seen in 1906.
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