About Epthianura albifrons (Jardine & Selby, 1828)
Adult white-fronted chats (Epthianura albifrons) measure 11–13 cm (4.3–5.1 in) in length and weigh 11–17 g (0.4–0.6 oz). Males have a white face and breast, framed by a black band that stretches across the breast, nape, and to the hind crown. Their upperparts are silver-grey, their wings and upper tail coverts are dark brown, and their abdomen is white. Male white-fronted chats have pinkish-white eyes, while females have brown eyes. Females have grey-brown upperparts, and white or pale grey underparts with a much fainter blackish-brown breast band. The species’ contact call is an irregularly given metallic tang sound produced during flight, which has been compared to the twanging of a rubber band. The white-fronted chat is endemic to Australia, where it ranges across southern Australia (including Tasmania), extending from Shark Bay in Western Australia east to the Darling Downs in Queensland. Its preferred habitat is open country with low vegetation, including samphire (genus Tecticornia), tea-tree (genus Melaleuca) and heath. It occurs in saltmarshes, coastal dunes, swamp or mangrove margins, and around inland salt lakes. It is generally sedentary in the wetter southern portion of its range, but may be nomadic in more arid areas.
