Inland Thornbill — Australian Bird Identification Guide

Bird guideInland Thornbill

The default thornbill of mulga, acacia, and arid shrublands across inland Australia.

⚠️Not listed

🌿Endemic to Australia

🍃Indigenous: Red-Rumped Tit, White-Scaled Tit, Western Thornbill, Whitlock Thornbill, Red-Rumped Thornbill, Lake Way Tit, Broad-Tailed Thornbill, Red-Tailed Thornbill, Whitlock's Tit, Rufous-Rumped Thornbill

At a glance

FamilyThornbills and Allies

SizeTiny

RarityCommon

HabitatInhabits dry woodland and scrubland, also in wetter habitats in southwestern edges of its range.

Best timeReported across most months in Western Australia, with no narrow seasonal peak.

Sounds

Sound sample

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Recorded by Marc Anderson

Range map

Occurrence window

200approx hotspots

54320approx records

5states

Low confidenceMediumHigh confidence

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

Often cocks tail upright. Similar Brown Thornbill has brown rather than gray-brown upperparts. Chestnut-rumped and Buff-rumped thornbills both have pale eyes, unstreaked chest, and mostly black tails. Inhabits dry woodland and scrubland, also in wetter habitats in southwestern edges of its range.

Behavior

Upperparts gray-brown, underparts off-white, with dark streaking on throat and breast, reddish-brown rump, white flecking on forecrown, and dark red eye.

Gallery