Brown Thornbill

Acanthiza pusilla archibaldi

Other name: King Island brown thornbill

Length: 10 cm

Identification: Sexes alike. Olive-brown upperbody with diagnostic olive-buff flanks; greyish undertail and bold blackish streaks on grey throat and breast. Red eye.

Similar species: Common Tasmanian thornbill has white flanks and undertail.

Habits: Singles, pairs. Actively forages for insects in ground layer vegetation, understorey shrubs and small trees.

Habitat: Drier wet scrub and eucalypt woodland with Leptospermum scoparium at Pegarah State Forest, open farmland at Loorana.
Probably nests on ground or in low understorey vegetation like the brown thornbill on the Tasmanian mainland.

Range and Status: Very restricted range. Recorded in Pegarah State Forest in 1968 and at Loorana in 1971. Thought to be extinct but recently one bird seen in 2001-02 at Pegarah State Forest.

Conservation status: Critically Endangered (3).

Special Management: Continue to search for birds at Pegarah State Forest and nearby to confirm presence and attempt to determine population size.

Last Updated on 26 August 2021