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

HabitatMarine and coastal; usually found over open ocean, offshore waters, islands, headlands, and other coastal areas.

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

4397visible hotspots

54674visible 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