Bird of the Week: White-browed Scrubwren 2 October 2020
I really like these little guys. They seem brave, bossy and confident. They live mostly near the ground in dark, damp forests but they don’t seem shy. You will often hear them chattering and scolding, like they are irritated, and then they will hop out into the open almost at your feet and go about their business as if you’re not there.
Adult males have a severe dark-edged white eyebrow that adds to the impression that they are grumpy. Females and juveniles look less grumpy, as their faces are a lighter grey and their eyebrows are less striking. All sexes and ages have pale eyes.
They have shorter tails than fairy-wrens & emu-wrens, and they can hold their tail straight, down or up a bit. In shape they are most like a Brown or Buff-rumped Thornbill, but they are bigger, and more often on the ground.
The single thing that sets them apart from all other birds is their alula: Two/three small feathers on the bend of the wing (sort of their shoulder when wing is folded). They have a black patch at this point, with white fringes to the alula feathers, which gives them neat little ‘epaulettes’. If you’re ever not sure if you’re seeing a scrubwren or a gerygone, thornbill, heathwren or pilotbird – look for that. None of the others have it, except Tasmanian Scrubwren which is only in Tas. (Though heathwren has a single pale spot but not on a black background)
The other scrubwren in our area – the Large-billed Scrubwren – doesn’t have the alula epaulettes, doesn’t have any streaking, no strong facial markings, and a dark eye. They are rarely on the ground, fast-moving and behave much more like gerygones & thornbills. They are really quite different, and much harder to find. See them here: https://ebird.org/species/labscr2
Our subspecies frontalis is medium-sized in the group, with only a little streaking on the pale throat and quite a rich grey-yellow-brown underside.
LISTEN TO THE CALLS:
Their song is quite a high-pitched squeaky single note repeated many times, and they have a range of songs/calls that are like short, interrupted bursts – a little like Grey Fantail or Superb Fairywren but never as long or complete. Here’s one: https://www.xeno-canto.org/366976
But the call I seem to hear most is the scolding call (the last one on the list on eBird) It really sounds like a nagging school teacher tut-tutting at a naughty kid. https://www.xeno-canto.org/366975
Scroll through to see lots of great pics here: https://ebird.org/species/whbscr1
Details: White-browed Scrubwren Sericornis frontalis frontalis
Location: coastal QLD, NSW, VIC. Subspecies frontalis all of Victoria, most of NSW & eastern SA. The former subspecies in WA & western SA have now been split into a full species Spotted Scrubwren Sericornis maculatus (Thanks Steve Davidson for the tip).
Conservation status: Considered secure. https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/White-browed-Scrubwren
by Janine Duffy
Mallacoota Birds 