Alternative name: Chestnut-mantled Grasswren
- Amytornis merrotsyi
Identification
15-16 cm, a medium-sized Grasswren with a relatively short tail.
- Dark rufous with black-and-white streaking above
- Indistinct dull rufous-brown anterior supercilium
- Black whisker-mark with white flecking, merging with white-streaked dusky ear-coverts
- Buff underparts with grey streaks on breast
Females are similar but with deep rufous patch on each side of lower breast and more marked streaks on breast.
Similar species
Has a much shorter tail than Striated Grasswren. Also a stouter bill, longer legs and a less distinct malar stripe.
Distribution
Gawler Ranges and Flinders Ranges, in South Australia.
Locally fairly common but patchily distributed and with a very small range.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
Forms a superspecies with Striated Grasswren and both were until recently considered conspecific.
Habitat
Found on stony hillsides, rocky gulleys and gorges with triodia hummock grass, often with overstorey of trees and shrubs.
Resettles in burnt habitat after c. 5 years.
Behaviour
Usually seen singly or in small groups.
No information about diet or breeding, probably similar to Striated Grasswren.
This is a sedentary species.
References
- 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/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved September 2014)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Short-tailed Grasswren. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Short-tailed_Grasswren
