Little Or Yellow

The two equal-smallest birds in Australia are the Weebill and the Yellow Thornbill. In fact, the Yellow Thornbill (Acanthiza nana) used to be called the Little Thornbill as it is fractionally smaller than the other thornbills. And since it has practically nothing else to distinguish it, no stripes or eyebrows or wing-bars, it was called Little and then it was decided the name Yellow was more appropriate. It is yellowish but not as yellow as, say, a Golden Whistler or Yellow Robin; it can appear brownish- or greyish-yellow. The best distinguishing feature is the lack of any distinguishing feature.

This is a thornbill that is only seen in trees – never on the ground. Furthermore, I recently learned that their preference is for Wattle trees rather than eucalypts. They like the feathery-leaf types, like Black or Silver Wattle.

They are often found in Yea Wetlands (in the wattle trees!) and are possibly common in the area. But they are thornbills after all – small active birds in the canopy – and hard to distinguish at a distance. They are also hard to photograph and I felt very privileged to get these photos when I located a small group that locals said are always around this particular copse of wattles.

Small. Unobtrusive. Plain. No distinguishing features. This is not going to be on anyone’s list of favourite birds but they are ours – endemic to south-eastern Australia. They are unique to this part of the world.