Small rusty-brown bird with finely streaked plumage and long cocked tail, found in rocky areas and gorges around spinifex clumps of central Australia, including Alice Springs and Tennant Creek.
At a glance
Sounds
Range map
Range map
Aggregated occurance data is sourced from 14 different actively-updating datasets including eBird Australia, iNaturalist Australia, BirdLife Australia, and multiple state-based bird surveys through Atlas of Living Australia.
Species notes
Overview
Usually seen on the ground, scrambling around rocks and spinifex clumps. Much more solidly built than fairywrens, and with fine white streaks on head and chest.
Behavior
Although these species may display a superficial resemblance to the dusky grasswren in their contact calls, their posture and manner of moving, and their general size and shape, if properly seen and heard in full song they are easy to separate. The fairywren species are all a uniform grey colour (except for breeding males which will sport brightly-coloured alternate plumage) with varying amounts of blue visible on adult's tails. This species most often reveals itself initially with a sharp, metallic tutting in alarm or a drawn-out seeeep contact call.
Gallery