Sericornis frontalis laevigaster (White-Browed Scrubwren)

IUCN Status: Least Concern

White-browed scrubwren have a very large range, more or less following costal forest from the Atherton tableland down the east coast, across the south, and then back up the west coast to just above Canarvon. This species has another interesting taxonomy. Depending on where reference you use it can have either 3 or 5 subspecies – loosely based on geography. On top of this, the Tasmanian scrubwren used to be a subspecies of frontalis also. Sometimes it would seem nature doesn’t want to be put into a “box”.

These tiny birds have attitude in abundance. They typically live in a small cohort hunting small insects in the lower canopy and share duties feeding young. They respond to intrusions with loud aggressive vocalisations. They are somewhat hard to see but relatively easy to find by their calls.