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Grasswren
Grasswrens (''Amytornis)'' are a genus of birds in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. Taxonomy and systematics ''Amytornis'' is the only genus classified within the subfamily Amytornithinae, and form a separate clade to the related fairy-wrens and emu-wrens within the family Maluridae. The genus contains 14 species, many of which are poorly known due to their secretive nature and remote and inaccessible habitat. Extant species The genus contains the following 14 species: Description Grasswrens are the largest members of the Australasian wren family, ranging from for the Eyrean grasswren to the white-throated grasswren. They generally have long tails and legs and short wings and are adapted for life foraging on the ground. The bill is typically shorter and narrower than the fairy-wrens and emu-wrens, which reflects the larger part that seeds play in their diet. The plumage of the grasswrens is cryptic, usually red, buff and brown patterned with white and black. Distr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thick-billed Grasswren
The thick-billed grasswren (''Amytornis modestus'') is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is Endemism, endemic to Australia. Its natural habitat is Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation. Taxonomy and systematics The thick-billed grasswren was formerly considered as conspecific with the western grasswren until split as a separate species in 2010. Subspecies Seven subspecies have been identified in recent studies (Black 2011, 2016; Austin et al. 2013): * †''A. m. modestus'' – (Alfred John North, North, 1902): Now extinct. Formerly found in Northern Territory * ''A. m. indulkanna'' – (Gregory Mathews, Mathews, 1916): Found in Northern Territory and South Australia * ''A. m. raglessi'' – Black, 2011: Found in Flinders Ranges in South Australia * ''A. m. curnamona'' – Black, 2011: Found in Lake Frome Basin in South Australia * ''A. m. cowarie'' – Black, 2016: Found in Sturt Stony Desert in South Australia * '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thick-billed Grasswren (cropped)
The thick-billed grasswren (''Amytornis modestus'') is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation. Taxonomy and systematics The thick-billed grasswren was formerly considered as conspecific with the western grasswren until split as a separate species in 2010. Subspecies Seven subspecies have been identified in recent studies (Black 2011, 2016; Austin et al. 2013): * †''A. m. modestus'' – (North, 1902): Now extinct. Formerly found in Northern Territory * ''A. m. indulkanna'' – ( Mathews, 1916): Found in Northern Territory and South Australia * ''A. m. raglessi'' – Black, 2011: Found in Flinders Ranges in South Australia * ''A. m. curnamona'' – Black, 2011: Found in Lake Frome Basin in South Australia * ''A. m. cowarie'' – Black, 2016: Found in Sturt Stony Desert in South Australia * ''A. m. obscurior'' – (Mathews, 1923): Found in New South Wales * †''A. m. inexpectat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey Grasswren (Amytornis Barbatus)
The grey grasswren (''Amytornis barbatus'') is a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is found on arid inland floodplains of Australia where it is endemic. The grey grasswren is a rarely seen elusive bird that was first sighted in 1921Black,, A., Carpenter, G., Pedler, L., Langdon, P. and Pedler, R. (2009). 'Distribution and habitats of the Grey Grasswren Amytornis barbatus in South Australia'. South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board. but not taxonomically described until 1968.Favaloro, N. and McEvey, A. (1968) 'A new Species of Australian Grasswren'. ''Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria'' 28:1-9. Its greyish coloration and very long tail distinguish it from all other grasswrens.''The Wrens and Warblers of Australia''. (1982). The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife. Angus and Robertson Publishers. London. While some recent research has been conducted, there still remain many gaps in the knowledge about the ec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Striated Grasswren
The striated grasswren (''Amytornis striatus'') is a small, cryptically coloured ground-dwelling species of wren-like bird in the family Maluridae, Endemism, endemic to Australia. It occupies a large discontinuous range across arid and semi-arid areas of western, central and southern Australia where it is associated with spinifex (''Triodia (grass), Triodia'') grass. Description The striated grasswren is one of 13 species in the genus ''Amytornis'', commonly known as the grasswrens, found only in arid and semi-arid areas of Australia. All are small cryptic birds with long, usually cocked-tails, characterised by diagnostic distinctive interscapular gap in the feathering,Higgins, P. J.; Peter, J. M.; Steele, W. K. 2001. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds: Tyrant-flycatchers to Chats. Oxford University Press, Oxford. an enlarged auditory bulla (tympanic chambers) and ten rectrices. The striated grasswren is a slim, long-tailed grasswren with a slender pointed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dusky Grasswren
The dusky grasswren (''Amytornis purnelli'') is a species of small passerine bird in the family Maluridae. The species is endemic to Australia but is limited to inland areas of the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia. Description The dusky grasswren is superficially similar in appearance to a number of the other grasswrens in the genus ''Amytornis'', but is the only member of this genus to exclusively inhabit rocky ranges across Central Australia. It has a predominantly brown base colour to its plumage with fine pale streaking over the head breast and mantle. The brown of the plumage is a richer chestnut on the back and pale to almost buff on the belly and vent. The most obvious difference between sexes is the bright rusty-brown spot on the fore-flanks of the adult female and all birds exhibit the characteristic cocked tail posture common to all malurids. Field identification The species is easily identified within its core range by its distinctive vocali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eyrean Grasswren
The Eyrean grasswren (''Amytornis goyderi'') is a small grasswren from the Passerine family Maluridae. This is a cryptically plumaged and uncommon bird endemic to arid regions of Central Australia. The species was discovered by F.W. Andrews in 1874 around the Macumba River at Lake Eyre, and named after the South Australian Surveyor General George Woodroffe Goyder. Description At 14–16.5 cm in length, ''Amytornis goyderi'' is the smallest grasswren. It has a deep, finch-like bill. There are some minor differences between sexes, and between populations across the distribution. Adult male The head is reddish with bold white streaks, neck and upper body dull to bright rufous-brown, streaked with fine dark and white lines. The face is mainly white except for the rufous forehead, white lores and a thin partial white eye-ring beneath the eye; and sometimes a rufous fore-supercilium. Black and white ear coverts separate the dark head parts from the off-white chin and thro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Grasswren
The black grasswren (''Amytornis housei''), known as dalal to the Wunambal people, is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is endemic to Western Australia. Naturalist Frederick Maurice House discovered the black grasswren in 1901, as a part of a surveying party led by Frederick Slade Drake-Brockman through the Kimberley in northwestern Australia. He collected a single specimen. Alexander William Milligan, consulting ornithologist at the Western Australian Museum, named it after House when he described the species. The bird was not seen again until 1968, when Dan Freeman of the Natural History Museum led a party to the same area to find it. Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation and open woodland, punctuated by large sandstone boulders and slabs. It inhabits the Mitchell River National Park in the Kimberley region of north-west WA. It has been classified as least concern. Bushfires have become more frequent, as has rainfall, which has altered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-throated Grasswren
The white-throated grasswren (''Amytornis woodwardi''), also known as Yirlinkirrkirr in the local language, is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is endemic to northern Australia, found only in West Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory (NT). Description The white-throated grasswren is the largest member of the Australian grasswrens (''Amytornis'' spp.), with a wing length of 70–80 mm. It has a similar pattern of coloration to the smaller Carpentarian grasswren (''A. dorytheae''), which occurs on sandstones hundreds of kilometers to the east of the Arnhem Plateau. White-throated grasswrens have a typically dark plumage with a striking white 'bib' from below the chin to the middle of the belly. Females tend to have dark reddish brown flanks and lower belly, whereas males have lighter rufous brown belly and flanks. White-throated grasswrens have soft, high-pitched contact calls that sound very similar to the co-occurring purple-backed (lavender-flanked) fairywren (' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Grasswren
The western grasswren (''Amytornis textilis''), formerly known as the textile wren, is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is Endemism, endemic to Australia. It was formerly lumping and splitting, lumped as the nominate subspecies of the thick-billed grasswren. History The species, indeed the genus, was first Bird collections, collected in 1818 on Shark Bay’s Peron Peninsula, in northwest Western Australia, by Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard, naturalists with Louis de Freycinet's circumnavigational exploring expedition in the French corvette ''Uranie''. Although the original specimen was apparently lost with the shipwreck of the ''Uranie'' in the Falkland Islands, it had been illustrated by expedition artist Jacques Arago and was Species description, described (as ''Malurus textilis'') by Charles Dumont de Sainte-Croix, Charles Dumont in 1824. Description A species of ''Amytornis'', the western grasswren is a small, shy, mainly terrestrial bird. It ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opalton Grasswren
The Opalton grasswren (''Amytornis rowleyi'') is an insectivorous bird in the family Maluridae. It is found in the Forsyth Range, Queensland, Australia. Formerly considered a sub-species of the striated grasswren (''Amytornis striatus rowleyi''), then known as the rusty grasswren. It is found around the opal mining area of Opalton and Lark Quarry south of Winton, Western Queensland. It was named as a full species by the I.O.C. in July 2020. Taxonomy and systematics The Opalton grasswren was first described in 1999 as ''Artemis striatus rowleyi'', a subspecies of the striated grasswren, based on specimens found near Opalton in 1970. In 2013, it was proposed that it be promoted to a full species based on genetic data collected from the striated grasswren species complex. In 2020, the International Ornithologists' Union officially listed the Opalton grasswren as its own species, with the binomial name ''Artemis rowleyi''. The Opalton grasswren has no subspecies. Description The Op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carpentarian Grasswren
The Carpentarian grasswren (''Amytornis dorotheae'') is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease .... The habitat of this species is almost exclusively the rocky ranges north of Mount Isa. This habitat is not endangered by human encroachment other than by fires because of the extreme inaccessibility. Taxonomy and systematics The species was formerly considered to be conspecific with the white-throated grasswren. It is monotypic. Behaviour and ecology Diet Feeds on insects and seeds. Forages by searching rock crevices and litter under shrubs on the ground. References Carpentarian grasswren Birds of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
