Acanthiza pusilla
This small brown bird with a big voice adapts very well to urban life, provided there is plenty of fairly dense shrub-level vegetation. Their song includes a soft but penetrating liquid trill that is easily recognised. They are usually seen singly or in small groups.
Many records are of birds passing through, although sometimes they settle in one site for a longer period. They feed mainly on insects in the middle and upper layers of dense shrubs, seldom coming to the ground. They often associate with other small birds in winter feeding flocks.
Their annual pattern exhibits a spring minimum, when presumably they are breeding in forest areas, rising to a June peak before declining again. In general, records have increased over the period of the survey, with a slight decline in recent years, possibly a drought effect. Breeding begins in winter, with the first nest building records in late June. There are few breeding records after November. R=35. BR=36.
