AUSTRALIAN FERNWREN
Photo: C & D Frith
Wet Tropics Rainforest Life
ENDEMIC Tropical
North QLD
AUSTRALIAN FERNWREN:
Oreoscopus
gutturalis 13 cm
-
The Fernwren is endemic to the Wet Tropics region.
-
It is restricted to upland rainforests, where it
forages in moist leaf litter.
- It produces very high-pitched whistling and scolding notes, yet it is difficult
to see unless the observer is patient.
- It feeds by turning over the forest litter, and has been seen following larger birds to forage in
patches already disturbed
by them (eg. Orange-footed Scrubfowl).
- It has a fine tweezer-like bill to use when
probing for animal food.
- Its breeding season is from August to February.
- The solid domed
nest is often placed against a tree trunk or small earth bank. It is made from numerous
rootlets and mosses. Two eggs are usually laid here, and both parents raise the
young.
- Other members of the same family (Acanthizidae) living in the rainforest include the Mountain Thornbill, Brown Gerygone, Large-billed Gerygone, Fairy Gerygone and the Scrubwren species.
- Fernwrens are found at Lake Barrine near Chambers Wildlife
Rainforest Lodge
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