Slender-billed thornbill

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Slender-billed thornbill

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Acanthizidae
Genus: Acanthiza
Species:
A. iredalei
Binomial name
Acanthiza iredalei
Mathews, 1911
Subspecies[2]
  • A. i. iredalei - Mathews, 1911
  • A. i. hedleyi - Mathews, 1912
  • A. i. rosinae - Mathews, 1913

The slender-billed thornbill (Acanthiza iredalei) is a small bird native to Australia. It includes three sub-species:

  • A. i. hedleyi
  • A. i. iredalei
  • A. i. rosinae

This thornbill can be found in

heath on sand plains.[3] It eats mostly insects and spiders captured in the shrubs of its habitat. It rarely feeds on the ground, preferring instead the higher elevations of shrubs and trees.[3]

The slender-billed thornbill is rarely observed alone. They are usually seen in flocks of approximately eight birds or in pairs. Thornbill nests are small and built in low shrubs. They are constructed of grass, bark, cobwebs, and other shrubland debris. Females lay up to three eggs during the breeding season, which runs from July until November.[3]

Description

The thornbill ranges from 9 to 10 centimeters in length. The colour of its back ranges from olive-grey to a darker olive-brown. The base of its tail is olive-yellow. Its underbelly is a smooth cream colour, and it has a dark bill and pale eyes.[3]

Distribution and habitat

The slender-billed thornbill iredalei subspecies has six separate and isolated populations in Western Australia, and a large population in the

Victoria, and the rosinae subspecies is most commonly found in the Gulf St Vincent region of South Australia.[5]

Conservation status

The rosinae subspecies is considered

near threatened.[6] The iredalei subspecies is also considered vulnerable.[7]

The slender-billed thornbill (iredalei subspecies) is extinct in northern Australia, and is considered the only indigenous species to have become extinct in that region since European settlement.[3]

Victoria

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Acanthiza iredalei.
Wikispecies has information related to Acanthiza iredalei.
  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22704644A93978754.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Gill F, D Donsker & P Rasmussen (Eds). 2020. IOC World Bird List (v10.2). doi : 10.14344/IOC.ML.10.2.
  3. ^ a b c d e Pavey, Chris; Ward, Simon (December 2012). "Threatened Species of the Northern Territory: Slender-Billed Thornbill" (PDF). Northern Territory Government: Department of Land Resource Management.
  4. ^ The Directory of Australian Birds: Passerines by R. Schodde, I. J. Mason. Journal of Biogeography, Vol. 27, No. 3 (May, 2000), pp. 782-783
  5. ISBN 978174021417-9
  6. ^ a b Birds Australia Archived 2009-06-02 at the Library of Congress Web Archives
  7. ^ Department of the Environment and Water Resources (2007). Acanthiza iredalei iredalei in Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of the Environment and Water Resources, Canberra. Available from: [1].
  8. ISBN 978-1-74287-504-0. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  9. ^ "Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act: Action Statement Index by Category and Scientific Name". Archived from the original on 2006-09-11. Retrieved 2006-09-11.
  10. ISBN 978-1-74208-039-0
    .
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