Small, pale, streaked bird with darker face and long cocked tail (albeit a bit shorter than in other grasswrens), found in hilly areas and ridgelines with spinifex clumps in the Flinders and Gawler ranges in South Australia.
Not listed
Endemic to Australia
Indigenous: Chestnut-Mantled Grasswren
At a glance
FamilyFairywrens
SizeTiny
RarityRare
HabitatSmall, pale, streaked bird with darker face and long cocked tail (albeit a bit shorter than in other grasswrens), found in hilly areas and ridgelines with spinifex clumps in the Flinders and Gawler ranges in South Australia.
Best timeMost reliable in South Australia from July to October.
Sounds
Sound sampleRecorded by Eric S. J. Tan
Range map
Range map
31visible hotspots
451visible records
1states
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
Upperparts rusty brown, with a slightly darker crown, white throat, and pale buffy underparts.
Behavior
Similar to Striated Grasswren but with a shorter tail and slightly thicker bill.
Gallery
Regional timing
South Australia
Commonly confused with
Blue-breasted FairywrenMalurus pulcherrimusNonbreeding male resembles female but has black bill and narrow pale eyering.→White-winged FairywrenMalurus leucopterusA small bird with a long blue tail that is held cocked. Females and nonbreeding males are very plain pale gray, and the patch between the eye and bill (lores) is also pale (compared to Purple-backed Fairywren which has very dark reddish lores). This species is typically found in very open and arid country with sparse bushes, where it often perches on the very top of bushes. Its call is a very fast trill.→Purple-backed FairywrenMalurus assimilisSmall pale tips are sometimes visible on the tail. Over much of the species’s inland range, females are overall grayish birds with pale fronts and long blue tails; however, females of the subspecies found in the sandstone regions of the Kimberley and Arnhem Land have contrasting blue crowns and backs. This species occurs over much of arid inland Australia and is found in open vegetation.→