The White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis) is a passerine

Passerine

A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...

 bird found in coastal areas of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Placed in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Pardalotidae in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy

Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy

The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy is a bird taxonomy proposed by Charles Sibley and Jon Edward Ahlquist. It is based on DNA-DNA hybridization studies conducted in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s....

, this has met with opposition and indeed is now known to be wrong; they rather belong to the independent family Acanthizidae

Acanthizidae

The Acanthizidae, also known as the Australasian warblers, are a family of passerine birds which include gerygones, thornbills, and scrubwrens. The Acanthizidae consists of small to medium passerine birds, with a total length varying between 8 and 19 cm. They have short rounded wings, slender...

.

It is insectivorous and inhabits undergrowth, from which it rarely ventures, though can be found close to urban areas. It is 11–14 cm (5-6 in) long and predominantly brown in colour with prominent white brows and pale eyes, though the three individual subspecies vary widely. Found in small groups, it is sedentary and engages in cooperative breeding

Cooperative breeding

Cooperative breeding is a social system in which individuals contribute care to offspring that are not their own at the expense of their own reproduction . When reproduction is monopolized by one or few of the adult group members and most adults do not reproduce, but help rear the breeder’s...

. The larger Tasmanian Scrubwren

Tasmanian Scrubwren

The Tasmanian Scrubwren or Brown Scrubwren is a bird species. Placed in the family Pardalotidae in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, this has met with opposition and indeed is now known to be wrong; they rather belong to the independent family Acanthizidae.It is native to the temperate forests of...

 is sometimes considered a subspecies of this species.

Taxonomy

The White-browed Scrubwren was originally described by naturalists Nicholas Aylward Vigors

Nicholas Aylward Vigors

Nicholas Aylward Vigors was an Irish zoologist and politician.Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow. He studied at Trinity College, Oxford. He served in the army during the Peninsular War from 1809 to 1811. He then returned to Oxford, graduating with a B.A. in 1815 and in 1817 with an...

 and Thomas Horsfield

Thomas Horsfield

Thomas Horsfield M. D. was an American physician and naturalist.Horsfield was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the grandson of Timothy Horsfield, Sr., a colonel and justice of the peace in Bethlehem, and a friend mentioned in Benjamin...

 in 1827. The specific epithet frontalis derived from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 frons "eyebrow". It is now divided into three subspecies:

• S. f. frontalis, known as the White-browed Scrubwren, is found in coastal eastern Australia from the New South Wales-Queensland border round to Adelaide
  Adelaide
  Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
  
   in South Australia
  South Australia
  South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
  
  .
• S. f. laevigaster, known as the Buff-breasted Scrubwren, is found in coastal Queensland from the New South Wales border north to the Atherton Tableland
  Atherton Tableland
  The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. It is located west to south-south-west inland from Cairns, well into the tropics, but its elevated position provides a climate suitable for dairy farming. It has an area of around...
  
  .
• S. f. maculatus, known as the Spotted Scrubwren, occurs in coastal southern Australia, from Kangaroo Island and Adelaide westwards to Shark Bay in Western Australia. It is known to intergrade with the nominate subspecies where their ranges overlap.

S. humilis, the Tasmanian Scrubwren

Tasmanian Scrubwren

The Tasmanian Scrubwren or Brown Scrubwren is a bird species. Placed in the family Pardalotidae in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, this has met with opposition and indeed is now known to be wrong; they rather belong to the independent family Acanthizidae.It is native to the temperate forests of...

, is found in Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

and Bass Strait islands and sometimes considered a subspecies of the White-browed Scrubwren. It is larger at 13.5 cm long and lays larger eggs.

Description

Mainland birds measure 11.5 cm (4½ in) in length and olive brown upperparts (greyish brown in the spotted subspecies and dark brown in Tasmania), with prominent pale irises and a white brow. The throat is white with faint streaks in the subspecies frontalis and laevigaster and heavily spotted in maculatus. Ear coverts are grey in frontalis and black in laevigaster, and brownish in the other two subspecies. The underparts are pale, though buff in laevigaster. The thin bill is black. The Females are duller overall and generally have pale gray lores, whereas males have blackish lores. This allows most individuals to be reliably sexed in the field. The call is a loud high-pitched ts-cheer.

Distribution and habitat

The species favours forested or scrubby areas with plentiful undergrowth, from which it rarely ventures. It is a common bird in bushland areas around Sydney. It is sedentary.

Behaviour

Scrubwrens are predominantly insectivorous. They can be hard to spot but are very vocal and easy to localise. They occur in small groups of up to six birds and engage in cooperative breeding; namely that group members all help to feed and rear the young.

Reproduction

Breeding season is June or July to November or December, with the nest a domelike structure of dried grasses and leaves, sticks, bark and ferns and feathers for lining. It is placed near or on the ground in dense cover. A clutch of two or three 20 x 15 mm eggs is laid; they vary from brownish-violet to brownish-white in colour with darker spots or blotches. The Tasmanian Scrubwren lays larger eggs some 23 x 17 mm in dimensions.

External links

• White-browed Scrubwren factsheet Australian Museum online
• Birds in Backyards - White-browed Scrubwren - with call recording