Brown Thornbill

Click on image to hear the call
Brown Thornbill: Click for call. Photograph: Graeme Chapman This small brown bird with a big voice adapts very well to urban life, provided there is plenty of fairly dense shrub-level vegetation. Their song includes a soft but penetrating liquid trill that is easily recognised. They are usually seen singly or in small groups.

Many records are of birds passing through, although sometimes they settle in one site for a longer period. They feed mainly on insects in the middle and upper layers of dense shrubs, seldom coming to the ground. They often associate with other small birds in winter feeding flocks.

Their annual pattern exhibits a spring minimum, when presumably they are breeding in forest areas, rising to a June peak before declining again. During the survey they showed a six-fold increase in numbers, although with significant dips in 1984, 1992 and 1993, possibly because these were wet years following drought. Nesting begins in July and ends by late October. Dependent young have been seen only from late September to mid-November. R=41. BR=37.

Brown Thornbill Calendar Year Abundance Graph Brown Thornbill Annual Abundance Graph

Brown Thornbill Acanthiza pusilla

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