Thick-billed grasswren
| Thick-billed grasswren | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Maluridae |
| Genus: | Amytornis |
| Species: | A. modestus |
| Binomial name | |
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Amytornis modestus (North, 1902) |
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| Subspecies | |
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see text |
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| Synonyms | |
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see text
The thick-billed grasswren (Amytornis modestus) is a species of bird in the Maluridae family. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.
The thick-billed grasswren was formerly considered as conspecific with the western grasswren until split as a separate species in 2010.
While not completely accepted by all authourities, the following seven subspecies are recognized by Clements and the IOC:
The thick-billed grasswren has dull brown underparts, a long dark-brown tail and noticeable white streaking on the head. It has white streaks continuing down the neck, throat and down to the rump. The white streaks across the chin to the forehead and along the wings and rump, contrast with the red-brown to grey colours of the feathers. Males have distinguishably longer tails. Females also have chestnut flanks. Vocals are a combination of short high-pitched song, repeated. They have a soft, high-pitched call that is often inaudible to human ears.
The thick-billed grasswren is endemic to Australia and is found throughout the arid regions of north-western New South Wales (NSW), northern parts of South Australia, through to southern sections of the Northern Territory. It is also speculated to still occur in fragmented populations in the Grey Range of Sturt National Park.
Chenopod scrublands (consisting largely of saltbush), sandhill cane-grass and flood debris in dry, sandy watercourses. They favour the scrublands with dense chenopod bushes. These denser shrublands usually occur in lower lying areas, such as watercourses and drainage lines. Both subspecies, occurring at different distributions prefer particular species. The Eastern Thick-billed Grasswren prefers saltbush. The Western Thick-billed Grasswren; black-bush and Australian boxthorn.
Thick-billed grasswrens are usually sedentary, with these illusive birds seen running, hopping or rarely flying, between vegetative cover to remain undetected. They can also be seen foraging for food at ground level around vegetation. Wrens have a generalist beak type that allows them to eat a range of foods. The thick bill allows for tougher seeds and other food niches to be accessed, compared with the smaller fairy wren species. If disturbed, individuals take refuge in any existing cover – usually vegetation or piles of old flood debris along dry sandy watercourses and even down rabbit burrows. They are often seen solitarily or in pairs. Sources vary, but mating pairs maintain between five, and 20 to 40 hectare territories year-round and rarely, possibly never, band with their neighbours outside the breeding season. Family groups are sometimes seen during the post-fledgling period, while the young are still dependent on their parents. The feather patterns/markings imitate their preferred habitat as a form of camouflage.
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Wikipedia