Weebill
Weebill | |
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Nominate subspecies, Victoria | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Acanthizidae |
Genus: | Smicrornis Gould, 1843 |
Species: | S. brevirostris
|
Binomial name | |
Smicrornis brevirostris (
Gould , 1838) | |
Approximate range in Australia
Year-round range
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The weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris) is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is an insectivorous passerine that is found throughout mainland Australia. At 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) long, it is Australia's smallest bird. It was originally described by John Gould in 1838, and four subspecies are recognised. The weebill's plumage is nondescript, with olive-grey upperparts and paler, more yellowish underparts. It grades from more brownish plumage in the southern regions of Australia to more yellow in tropical areas.
Taxonomy
The weebill was described by John Gould in 1838 as Psilopus brevirostris. The species epithet is derived from the Latin words brevis 'short' and rostrum 'beak'.[2]
In 1843, Gould erected the genus Smicrornis for his new species Smicrornis flavescens, collected from Port Essington, noting it as distinct from Gerygone (which had replaced Psilopus as a name).[3] The generic name Smicrornis derives from the Greek smicros 'small' and ornis 'bird'.[4] It is the only member of genus Smicrornis; gene flow is strong and local variation follows Bergmann's and Gloger's rules.[5][6]
Gould initially called it the short-billed smicrornis, but it did not gain acceptance. Other names include tree-tit, short billed tree-tit, scrub-tit, or short-billed scrub-tit. Weebill was adopted as the name in the 1926 RAOU checklist.[2]
Subspecies
Four subspecies are currently recognised in addition to the nominate subspecies:[7]
- S. b. flavescens (Gould, 1843) – ranging across Northern Australia from the Kimberley to northern and western Queensland (including Cape York Peninsula) and southward to the northern Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts, Central Australian ranges, northern Simpson Desert and central Thomson drainage.
- S. b. ochrogaster (Schodde & Mason, 1999) – western and central Western Australia (south from the Pilbara).
- S. b. occidentalis (Bonaparte, 1850) – southwest Western Australia (south from lower Murchison Range and Kalgoorlie region), eastward around southern rim of Nullarbor Plain to South Australia (southward from central Flinders Ranges, lower Lake Frome basin and Murray Mallee).
- S. b. brevirostris (Gould, 1838) – Eastern Australia from central and eastern Queensland (Victoriaand southeast South Australia.
Description
The weebill is Australia's smallest bird at approximately 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) long and weighing an average of 6 grams (adult bird).[8] Wingspan is approximately 15 cm (5.9 in).[8]
Weebills have inconspicuously coloured
Adults have pale yellow eyes and a faint cream coloured
The
Juveniles have a similar plumage to adults, but can be identified by a brighter, yellow bill and greyer eye.[10]
Four subspecies of weebill are currently recognised and exhibit slight variation in feather pigmentation, dependent on distribution.[8] In the south and east of Australia, subspecies occidentalis and brevirostris are light brown; in the southwest, the subspecies occidentalis exhibits greyer plumage; while subspecies flavescens in northern and inland Australia is paler and more yellow.[11] Additionally, the Northern Australian weebills are smaller than those in the south.
The voice of the weebill is a loud, clear, musical pee-pee p'wee, wee bit or wee willy weetee, often heard from a considerable distance.[8]
Distribution and habitat
The weebill is found in woodlands and forests across most of mainland Australia, excluding Tasmania.[12] All four subspecies of weebills are sedentary in their range,[8] and numbers are regular throughout the year.
They are most commonly found in the canopies of dry, open eucalyptus forests, woodlands and mallee,[12] occasionally coming down to the midstory to feed primarily on small insects and their larvae. They display a preference for foraging in the canopy foliage of healthy eucalyptus trees, where they are more likely to retrieve insects.[13] The weebill is widespread in all climates,[14] although localised to watercourses in arid zones. They are somewhat gregarious with other small insectivorous passerines, such as thornbills, silvereyes, and pardalotes.
Ecology
Diet
The diet consists mostly of insects, larvae, occasionally seeds and beetles .[8] Arthropod prey items include spiders (Araneae), beetles (Coleoptera, including Curculionids), and flies (Diptera).[7] Weebills forage busily in pairs, or small parties of up to 8, feeding mainly in trees, often hovering, they are active and noisy and cling to twigs while gleaning insects from the outer foliage of the canopy and midstory.
Weebills assist in maintaining the health of trees, as they
Reproduction
The dome-shaped pendant nests of weebills are made from fine, pliable materials, such as grasses and plant fibers suspended from a branch and concealed in dense foliage of the tree canopy.[15] Weebills are known to utilize cobwebs, insect cocoons and animal hair to bind, strengthen, and further conceal the nest.
The breeding season of weebills depends on latitude and climatic conditions.[11] They can breed at almost any time of the year, but most commonly from July to May. Courtship displays have been observed in weebills, where males ruffle their cheek and head feathers with outstretched wings to the female. It is thought that male and female weebills display to each other at the nest-site with tail-fanning, slight bowing and wing quivering.[8]
The female usually lays two to four brown-speckled cream-coloured eggs,[8] which are tapered-oval in shape. Only the female incubates the eggs, which hatch after 10–12 days, and then both parents care for the chicks.[10]
Weebill eggs in the nest are occasionally vulnerable to small
Threats and conservation
Widespread and common in its habitat throughout its
Human-caused disturbances include introduced flora and fauna species, and altered fire regimes that can result in changes to ecosystem-level processes, modify habitat structure and consequently affect fauna assemblages.[18]
References
- ^ . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-643-10471-6.
- ^ Gould, John (1842). "Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, Oct. 11, 1842". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 10: 131–140 [133–134].
- ^ Jobling, James A. "Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird-names". Retrieved 2020-04-17.
- ^ .
- ^ a b "Smicrornis brevirostris : Weebill". Atlas of Living Australia. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
- ^ ISBN 9788496553422.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-553244-9.
- ISBN 067086305X.
- ^ a b "Weebill". Birds in Backyards. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
- ^ a b "Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris)". mdahlem.net. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
- ^ a b "Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris)". Feathers and Photos. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
- S2CID 84595439.
- ISBN 9780643064560.
- ^ ISBN 020714480X.
- ^ "Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo". BirdLife Australia. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
- ^ Ingwersen, Dean; Tzaros, Chris (Winter 2011). "Woodland birds: the next generation" (PDF). Wingspan. pp. 22–25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-06-30. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
- ^ Valentine, Leonie (2009). The impacts of human-mediated disturbances on birds and reptiles in tropical savannas (Thesis).
- Hoyo, J. del; Elliot, A. & Christie, D., eds. (2006). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-84-96553-42-2.
External links
- Media related to Smicrornis brevirostris at Wikimedia Commons
- Data related to Smicrornis brevirostris at Wikispecies