Bristlebird
| Dasyornis | |
|---|---|
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|
| Rufous bristlebird | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Suborder: | Passeri |
| Superfamily: | Meliphagoidea |
| Family: |
Dasyornithidae Sibley & Ahlquist, 1985 |
| Genus: |
Dasyornis Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 |
| Species | |
|
Dasyornis brachypterus |
|
Dasyornis brachypterus
Dasyornis broadbenti
Dasyornis longirostris
The bristlebirds are a family, Dasyornithidae, of passerine bird. There are three species in one genus, Dasyornis. The family is endemic to Australia. The genus Dasyornis was sometimes placed in the Acanthizidae or, as a subfamily, Dasyornithinae, along with the Acanthizinae and Pardalotinae, within an expanded Pardalotidae, before being elevated to full family level by Christidis & Boles (2008).
Taxa accepted or described by Schodde & Mason (1999) include, with their estimated conservation status:
Bristlebirds are long-tailed, sedentary, ground-frequenting birds. They vary in length from about 17 cm to 27 cm, with the eastern bristlebird the smallest, and the rufous bristlebird the largest, species. Their colouring is mainly grey with various shades of brown, ranging from olive-brown through chestnut and rufous, on the plumage of the upperparts. The grey plumage of the underparts or the mantle is marked by pale dappling or scalloping. The common name of the family is derived from the presence of prominent rictal bristles.
Bristlebirds have restricted, and often reduced and disjunct, ranges along the coasts of south-western and south-eastern Australia where there is a Mediterranean climate and suitable habitat of coastal scrubs, heathlands and dense understorey vegetation in woodlands and forests. The eastern bristlebird occurs in threatened, localised and disjunct populations down the eastern Australian coast from south-east Queensland through New South Wales to eastern Victoria; the rufous bristlebird in western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia, and formerly in south-western Western Australia; with the western bristlebird occurring in a small area of south-west Western Australia.
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Wikipedia