Atrichornis clamosus
The Noisy Scrubbird (Atrichornis clamosus) is a highly secretive, ground-dwelling passerine endemic to southwestern Western Australia, renowned for its extraordinary vocal prowess and remarkable history of rediscovery. Measuring 18-23 cm in length, with a notably long, stiff, and graduated tail accounting for much of its size, this small bird weighs approximately 30-40 grams. Its plumage is a drab dull brown on the upperparts, with a rufous wash on the rump and wings, finely barred darker bro...
Found primarily in dense, tangled undergrowth, often in coastal heath, low mallee scrub, or the damp, impenetrable understorey of eucalypt woodlands at low elevations.
Their diet consists almost exclusively of ground-dwelling invertebrates, including ants, beetles, crickets, spiders, and insect larvae, meticulously gleaned from leaf litter and soil.
Noisy Scrubbirds are strictly diurnal but highly elusive, spending almost their entire lives on the ground, scurrying through dense vegetation. They forage by scratching and probing in leaf litter and decaying wood, exhibiting a terrestrial 'mouse-like' movement. Males are fiercely territorial, d...
Historically, the Noisy Scrubbird was found along the southwestern coast of Western Australia, from Perth southwards to Albany. Following its rediscovery, its known range was confined to a small, isolated population at Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve near Albany. Through intensive conservation eff...
Critically Endangered
- The Noisy Scrubbird was considered extinct for 52 years, between 1910 and its rediscovery in 1961 near Two Peoples Bay. - Its song is considered one of the loudest per unit body mass of any bird in the world, capable of being heard from up to 1.5 kilometers away. - Despite being a passerine (so...