About Acanthiza pusilla (Shaw, 1790)
The brown thornbill (Acanthoshiza pusilla) has warm brown to olive-brown plumage on its upper body, with flanks colored olive-buff to yellowish white. It features buff scallops on the forehead, large dark red eyes, and blackish streaks across a grey throat and breast. Its rump and the base of its tail are tawny, and the tail has a black subterminal band with paler tips. This is a relatively small bird, measuring 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) in length and typically weighing 7 g (0.25 oz).
The brown thornbill occurs in eastern and southeastern Australia, including Tasmania, and is most often found within 300 kilometres (190 mi) of the coast. A large portion of its range overlaps with that of the inland thornbill on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range and the Mt Lofty Ranges, and it is also common in the Blue Mountains. Two subspecies have been recorded in distinct areas: A. p. pusilla near the Australian Capital Territory, and A. p. diemenensis on Tasmania. Brown thornbills inhabit areas up to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in elevation. They can be found in dry forests with dense undergrowth, rainforests, shrublands, coastal dune thickets, and in rushes and bracken growing along rivers and creeks. They are sedentary and common across most of their range, except in the drier portions.
