Acanthizidae – Australasian Warblers
The Acanthizidae, also known as the Australasian warblers, are a family of passerine birds, which include gerygones, thornbills, and scrubwrens. The Acanthizidae consists of small to medium passerine birds, with a total length varying between 8 and 19 centimetres. They have short rounded wings, slender bills, long legs, and a short tail. Most species have olive, grey, or brown plumage, although some have patches of a brighter yellow. The smallest species of acanthizid, and indeed the smallest Australian passerine, is the weebill, the largest is the pilotbird.
Acanthizids are native to Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and the south-west Pacific. Most species are found in Australia and New Guinea, with Australia having thirty-five endemic species and New Guinea fifteen. A single species is found in Vanuatu, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands, and three species occur in the New Zealand region, including endemic species in the Chatham Islands and Norfolk Island. In Asia two species are restricted to Indonesia and another is found in the Philippines and on mainland Asia. Most species are sedentary, with the exception of the gerygones. The family occupies a range of habitats from rainforests to arid deserts.
Most species are terrestrial, feeding primarily on insects, although also eating some seeds. In particular the whitefaces consume large numbers of seeds, and other species will take fruits. The secretions of sap-sucking insects are favoured by some species, as are the insects themselves. Some species are less terrestrial, such as the weebill, which forages in the treetops, or the rock-dwelling rockwarbler.
Rainforest species lay one to two eggs in a clutch, and species in the deserts and Tasmania lay three to four. Acanthizids are unusual for passerines in their long incubation periods, which rival those of large songbirds like the Corvidae. Also, despite their long incubation period hatching is completely synchronous and within-brood mortality completely absent.
Acanthizids are relatively long-lived, with many species living to over ten years of age in the wild and cooperative breeding is found in the weebill and with a lesser degree of development in all whitefaces and most species of Sericornis and Acanthiza.
There are generally agreed to be the following 65 species in this group:
Goldenface Pachycare flavogriseum
Fernwren Oreoscopus gutturalis
Pilotbird Pycnoptilus floccosus
Scrubtit Acanthornis magna
Rockwarbler Origma solitaria
Chestnut-rumped Heathwren Calamanthus pyrrhopygius
Shy Heathwren Calamanthus cautus
Striated Fieldwren Calamanthus fuliginosus
Western Fieldwren Calamanthus montanellus
Rufous Fieldwren Calamanthus campestris
Redthroat Pyrrholaemus brunneus
Speckled Warbler Pyrrholaemus sagittatus
Rusty Mouse-warbler Crateroscelis murina
Bicolored Mouse-warbler Crateroscelis nigrorufa
Mountain Mouse-warbler Crateroscelis robusta
Pale-billed Scrubwren Sericornis spilodera
Papuan Scrubwren Sericornis papuensis
Atherton Scrubwren Sericornis keri
White-browed Scrubwren Sericornis frontalis
Tasmanian Scrubwren Sericornis humilis
Yellow-throated Scrubwren Sericornis citreogularis
Large-billed Scrubwren Sericornis magnirostra
Tropical Scrubwren Sericornis beccarii
Perplexing Scrubwren Sericornis virgatus
Large Scrubwren Sericornis nouhuysi
Buff-faced Scrubwren Sericornis perspicillatus
Vogelkop Scrubwren Sericornis rufescens
Grey-green Scrubwren Sericornis arfakianus
Weebill Smicrornis brevirostris
Brown Gerygone Gerygone mouki
Grey Gerygone Gerygone igata
Norfolk Gerygone Gerygone modesta
Lord Howe Gerygone Gerygone insularis
Chatham Gerygone Gerygone albofrontata
Fan-tailed Gerygone Gerygone flavolateralis
Brown-breasted Gerygone Gerygone ruficollis
Golden-bellied Gerygone Gerygone sulphurea
Rufous-sided Gerygone Gerygone dorsalis
Mangrove Gerygone Gerygone levigaster
Plain Gerygone Gerygone inornata
Western Gerygone Gerygone fusca
Dusky Gerygone Gerygone tenebrosa
Large-billed Gerygone Gerygone magnirostris
Biak Gerygone Gerygone hypoxantha
Yellow-bellied Gerygone Gerygone chrysogaster
Green-backed Gerygone Gerygone chloronota
White-throated Gerygone Gerygone olivacea
Fairy Gerygone Gerygone palpebrosa
Mountain Thornbill Acanthiza katherina
Brown Thornbill Acanthiza pusilla
Inland Thornbill Acanthiza apicalis
Tasmanian Thornbill Acanthiza ewingii
New Guinea Thornbill Acanthiza murina
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza uropygialis
Buff-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza reguloides
Western Thornbill Acanthiza inornata
Slender-billed Thornbill Acanthiza iredalei
Yellow-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza chrysorrhoa
Yellow Thornbill Acanthiza nana
Grey Thornbill Acanthiza cinerea
Striated Thornbill Acanthiza lineata
Slaty-backed Thornbill Acanthiza robustirostris
Southern Whiteface Aphelocephala leucopsis
Chestnut-breasted Whiteface Aphelocephala pectoralis
Banded Whiteface Aphelocephala nigricincta
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Pilotbird Pycnoptilus floccosus
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Pilotbird Pycnoptilus floccosus
Species AccountSound archive & distribution map -
Pilotbird Pycnoptilus floccosus
Species AccountThe pilotbird (Pycnoptilus floccosus) is a species of bird in the Acanthizidae family. It is monotypic within the genus Pycnoptilus. The exact taxonomic placement of this species is disputed, as it bears some resemblance to the bristlebirds. The species is endemic to south-east New South Wales and eastern Victoria in Australia. Its natural habitat is temperate wet sclerophyll forests and occasionally temperate rainforest. There are two subspecies Pycnoptilus floccosus floccosus lives in alpine areas of New South Wales such as the Snowy Mountains and Pycnoptilus floccosus sandfordi lives in lowland forest from Newcastle to Melbourne. -
Scrubtit Acanthornis magnus
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Scrubtit Acanthornis magnus
Species AccountThe scrubtit (Acanthornis magna) is a species of bird in the thornbill family Acanthizidae. It is monotypic within the genus Acanthornis,[2] and is endemic to Tasmania and King Island in Australia. Its natural habitat is the temperate rainforest, Nothofagus beech forest and eucalypt woodland. It is a small species that resembles the Sericornis scrubwrens (with which it was once placed). -
Tasmanian Thornbill Acanthiza ewingii
Species AccountThe Tasmanian Thornbill is a medium sized thornbill very similar to the Brown Thornbill A. pusilla. The two are best told apart by the adage that the Tasmanian Thornbill "wears the white underpants". The adult Tasmanian Thornbill is olive-brown above with rufous-brown suffusion to the forehead; dull rufous-brown rump-patch and prominent rufous brown panel on folded wings. The underparts are off-white with diffuse fine dusky mottling on chin, throat and breast, and clean white undertail-coverts. Juvenile birds are similar to adults but newly fledged birds are fluffier. -
Tasmanian Thornbill Acanthiza ewingii
Species AccountSound archive & distribution map -
Tasmanian Thornbill Acanthiza ewingii
Species AccountThe Tasmanian thornbill (Acanthiza ewingii) is a small brown bird only found in Tasmania and the islands in the Bass Strait. -
Weebill Smicrornis brevirostris
Species AccountThe Weebill's common name comes from the short, stubby, pale beak. The eye is pale cream, and there is a pale line above the eye. Weebills are dull grey-brown on the head and olive-brown on the back, and the underparts are buff to yellow. In the south and east of the country, the birds are light brown, while northwards and inland they become paler and more yellow. Both sexes are similar in colouration, and young birds can be separated from the adults by their greyer eye. -
Weebill Smicrornis brevirostris
Species AccountSound archive & distribution map -
Weebill Smicrornis brevirostris
Species AccountThe weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris) is Australia's smallest bird at approximately 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) long. It is an olive-yellow songbird with a grey bill, brown wings, pale yellow eyes and grey feet. Its tail feathers are brown with a black bar and white spot on the tip of all inner webs but the central pairs. The sexes are similar. The weebill is the only member of genus Smicrornis; gene flow is strong and local variation follows Bergmann's and Gloger's Rules.
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Number of bird species: 65