Birda Logo
Features
Birda+
About
Species Guide
Challenges
Shop
loading...
A photo of a Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla)
Brown Thornbill

Brown Thornbill

Acanthiza pusilla

The Brown Thornbill, a diminutive bird with a warm brown to olive-brown upper body, is a charming sight in the eastern and southeastern Australian landscapes, including Tasmania. Its underparts are adorned with buff scallops on the forehead and a grey throat and breast with blackish streaks. The eyes are a striking dark red, and the rump and tail base are a tawny hue, with the tail featuring a black subterminal band and paler tips.

Identification Tips

When attempting to identify the Brown Thornbill, look for its small stature, typically ranging from 9 to 10 cm in length and weighing a mere 7 grams. Its olive-buff to yellowish-white flanks, buff scallops on the forehead, and large dark red eyes are distinctive features. The blackish streaks on its grey throat and breast, along with the tawny rump and tail base, are also key identification markers.

Habitat

This species thrives in a variety of habitats, including dry forests with dense undergrowth, rainforests, shrublands, coastal dune thickets, and areas along rivers and creeks where rushes and bracken provide cover. They are most commonly found at elevations up to 1,200 meters.

Distribution

The Brown Thornbill is a resident of eastern and southeastern Australia, including Tasmania. It is typically found within 300 kilometers of the coast and is a common sight in the Blue Mountains.

Behaviour

The Brown Thornbill is a sedentary bird, often seen feeding restlessly close to the ground or in lower trees and shrubs. It is known to form mixed-species feeding flocks, particularly outside the breeding season.

Song & Calls

This species is a skilled mimic, capable of replicating the alarm calls of other birds to deter predators. Its own calls are a rich, musical warble, varying from mellow baritone to high whistles with rapid trills, and an assortment of squeaks and churrs.

Breeding

Brown Thornbill pairs tend to form long-lasting bonds. Their dome-shaped nests, with a hooded side-entrance, are crafted from grasses, bark, moss, and feathers or plant down, bound together with spider webs. They lay clutches of two to four eggs, with three being most common. The eggs are whitish with red-brown freckles and incubate for 19 days, with a nesting period of 16 days. Breeding season spans from July to January.

Similar Species

The Brown Thornbill shares part of its range with the Inland Thornbill, which can be found on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range and the Mt Lofty Ranges.

Diet and Feeding

Primarily insectivorous, the Brown Thornbill's diet includes spiders, beetles, lerp insects, ants, and grasshoppers. Occasionally, it may consume seeds, fruit, or nectar.

Conservation status

The Brown Thornbill is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, with a stable population. However, the King Island subspecies (A. p. archibaldi) is critically endangered, with a recovery program expected to be formulated to prevent its extinction.

App logo
Birda is a birdwatching app and community aimed at curious people who want to deepen their connection with nature.

Brown Thornbills on Birda

Photos
Sightings

More Australasian Warblers

A photo of a Inland Thornbill (Acanthiza apicalis)

Inland Thornbill

Acanthiza apicalis
Birda Logo

Your birdwatching journey like never before

Connect with nature in minutes
Take a walk, look out of the window and log the birds that you see. Feel good about those little connections to nature.
Discover the joy of birding
Find new birding spots, see more birds, share and celebrate with a like-minded community of nature lovers.
Play your part in saving nature
Logging your birding sightings and sessions turns into positive action for our planet. Every sighting counts.

Birda Blog

What Our Birders Say
Carrie
Makes you want to spot birds more
I think this app is fun. It makes you want to spot birds more so I guess in a way it encourages you to get out and about instead of sitting in front of the TV.
Unbridled Discoveries
Great app for bird lovers
I love this app! It’s a wonderful way to track birding sessions, and also connect you with fellow birders. I also really like the unidentified bird section, it’s a great community tool to help figure out what a never-before-seen bird is!
Bryan C
Clean and easy to use
Really enjoying this app, it's clean and easy to use. I love the ease of being able to add those one-off birds without starting a whole checklist. I also like the social aspect, like the parts of my Facebook I like, without the ads and junk, just birds. Can't wait to see it become more populated.
Talli A
My favourite app
As a young birdwatcher who was always keen to be apart of a community but never seemed to find one, my problem was solved downloading this!!! Everyone is so friendly and just as excited to see birds as me 😁
Sacha0508
Simply fantastic
I love this app, it puts so much fun into recording the birds I’ve seen and heard while I’m out and about. The interface is user-friendly and suitable for all ages. It’s great to collect badges and to review my “lists”.
Chudbond
Love Birda
I love this app. It really encourages you to log your sightings and the community is friendly and helpful.
Marlster24
Recommend for any bird watcher
Very wholesome app: I joined this app with a new interest in watching birds to help me find out what I was spotting. The community is very active in helping identify birds which is great and everyone is very kind so it’s just a nice wholesome community. I would definitely recommend this for any bird spotter 😃
SuperOliviaGirl
Really great app
It’s easy to use and it’s fun to log the birds you notice on a walk or just in your garden. There’s a option to record the birds you see in a session which is really nice. Good excuse to stop for a while and just watch birds. I am also enjoying the information part where you can find out fact about birds from all over the world.
Hip An
Fantastic
Really enjoying Birda where I live i have a lot of Red kites really hard to photograph but I can video are you planning some place on the app where us Birda can post vids🦉🦅
Robred 2
Fun way to add to your birdwatching experience
I enjoy watching birds in my backyard, but this app helped me really pay attention while on vacation this summer. It was fun to add new birds to my bird watching app.
As featured in
Birda Logo
AboutPressAmbassadorsAffiliatesInfluencersCareersPrivacyTerms & Conditions
An app for birdwatchers
Connect with us
Copyright © 2024 Chirp Birding. All rights reserved.