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Australian Wildlife

  Shy Heathwren (Calamanthus cautus)





Shy Heathwren | Calamanthus cautus photo
Shy Heathwren, Southern Wilpena Pound, Flinders Ranges, South Australia

Image by Peripitus - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







SHY HEATHWREN FACTS

Description
The Shy Heathwren is a small brown scrubwren. It has a brown back, chestnut coloured rump, long brown tail that is held angled upwards. It has white stripe about eye. The underside is whitish grey with dark streaks on chest. It has a small white patch on the wing near the shoulder. It is similar to the Chestnut-rumped Heathwren which has less prominent streaking on the chest and no white wing patch. It is fairly uncommon throughout its range.

Other Names
Shy Hylacola, Mallee Hylacola, Mallee wren

Size
13cm

Habitat
found amongst the undergrowth in mallee woodland

Food
mainly insects caught on the ground

Breeding
builds a dome-shaped nest of twigs and other plant material amongst long grass or low shrubs. Lays two or three pale brownish finely spotted eggs

Range
found along south coast of Western Australia and South Australia and into western parts of Victoria and New South Wales

distribution map showing range of Calamanthus cautus in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Passeriformes
Family:Acanthizidae
Genus:Calamanthus
Species:cautus
Common Name:Shy Heathwren