Brown Thornbill

Description:

A tiny plain brown bird, body about 60mm, paler breast; hopping about in the undergrowth and only stopped for a few seconds when it found a sunny patch. I'm not sure it was completely happy. It seemed tired and closed it's eyes often and didn't seem to worry about my presence (as they usually would). Possibly ill or very young / fledging ??

Habitat:

Very tall and moist eucalyptus rain forest.

Notes:

"Brown thornbill nests are hidden in dense thickets a metre or less off the ground – even so, their young are constantly under threat from much larger crow-like pied currawongs. Currawong chicks devour the chicks of smaller birds – with each brood needing around two kilograms of food. More than a quarter of thornbills lose entire nests to predators. While many birds use trickery to protect their nests - some feign injury, or even tend to a fake nest, to draw predators away from their brood - the brown thornbill’s approach has never been seen before. When thornbills hear their chicks in distress, they simultaneously emit the alarm calls of up to four different birds, simulating what would happen if a hawk were flying overhead. Tricked into thinking a bigger predator is in the air, the currawongs quickly abandon their hunt." - https://cosmosmagazine.com/life-sciences...