Southern scrub robin
Drymodes brunneopygia
The southern scrub robin is a species of bird in the Petroicidae family.
It is endemic to Australia, where it occurs in mallee and heathland in the semi-arid southern parts of the continent, extending from the Little Desert in the east though South Australia to the west coast between Kalbarri and the Pinnacles.
It is a relatively dull and large robin, adults being around 22 centimetres in length, of which around a third is the tail feathers. Most of the plumage is grey, except for a dullish red tail and patterned black-and-white wings. The legs are unusually long for a passerine, and are frequently used to hop through the dense heathland that forms the bird's habitat, where it searches for insects and other small invertebrates.
Unusually for a passerine, the southern scrub robin lays only a single egg, which is grey-green in colour for camouflage amongst the sclerophyllous flora that forms its habitat. This egg is laid every year between July and December and hatches after sixteen days in a nest of twigs on the ground.
It is endemic to Australia, where it occurs in mallee and heathland in the semi-arid southern parts of the continent, extending from the Little Desert in the east though South Australia to the west coast between Kalbarri and the Pinnacles.
It is a relatively dull and large robin, adults being around 22 centimetres in length, of which around a third is the tail feathers. Most of the plumage is grey, except for a dullish red tail and patterned black-and-white wings. The legs are unusually long for a passerine, and are frequently used to hop through the dense heathland that forms the bird's habitat, where it searches for insects and other small invertebrates.
Unusually for a passerine, the southern scrub robin lays only a single egg, which is grey-green in colour for camouflage amongst the sclerophyllous flora that forms its habitat. This egg is laid every year between July and December and hatches after sixteen days in a nest of twigs on the ground.
