• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Grey Grasswren - BirdForum Opus

Page Discussion
View source History
Photo by Simon M
Birdsville Track, SA, Australia, October 2013
Amytornis barbatus

Identification

18-21cm. A medium-sized grasswren with a very distinctive face pattern.

  • White facial area with black eyestripe, black V-mark on white ear-coverts crossing lower throat
  • White-streaked black crown
  • Pale cinnamon upperparts with black-edged white shaft streaks
  • Long black tail, white below
  • White breast with faint grey-black streaks, buff flanks

Sexes similar, females are smaller and duller.

Distribution

Endemic to Australia: found very locally in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.
A locally common restricted-range species. The nominate race occurs in a single location, diamantina is widely scattered.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 2 subspecies[1]:

  • A. b. barbatus:
  • A. b. diamantina:
  • Lower Diamantina River and Coopers Creek

Habitat

Flood plains with lignum and swamp canegrass in the Australian outback.

Behaviour

Diet

Feeds on seeds and insects.
Forages close or on the ground through shrubs and in litter. Birds may gather in dry seasons in favoured lignum patches.

Breeding

Breeding recorded from July to August. Apparently breeding as territorial pairs. The nest is a loose and bulky structure with a slight hood and a platform at the side entrance. It's made of grass, rootlets and pant down and placed 0.3 to 0.6 m above the ground in a lignum or canegrass clump. Lays 2 to 3 eggs.

Movements

Probably a sedentary species.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2007. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553422
  3. Avibase

Recommended Citation

External Links

Retrieved from ‘https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/index.php?title=Grey_Grasswren&oldid=222180’
Back
Top