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Although, by virtue of their long, wispy tail, not the shortest birds in Australia by length, Rufous-crowned Emu-wrens are the smallest by body weight. The plumage of Rufous-crowned Emu-wrens is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are slightly different. Male Rufous-crowned Emu-wrenss have blue feathers around their eyes and a blue "bib", females don't. Otherwise the two sexes are identical. The top of the head, from frons to the nape of the neck, is rufous, while the ear coverts are dark-grey with some white streaking. The front is warm buff, while the back and wing coverts are brown, boldly streaked dark-grey. The long, wispy tail is brown. Both sexes have dark irises. The males' bill is black, while females have a grey bill with a darker tip. The legs and feet are the colour of skin.

Juveniles closely resemble adults with slightly paler colours. Rufous-crowned Emu-wrens are unusual in that their juveniles are already dimorphic. Juvenile males have a faint-blue bib but no blue around the eyes, while juvenile females don't have a bib.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Rufous-crowned Emu-wren is available HERE .

Rufous-crowned Emu-wrens are endemic to Australia. Their overall distribution is patchy. Their range extends from the North-west Cape via the Pilbara and central WA into the southern half of the NT and on to far-western QLD, up to about Opalton, WA. There are no recent reports from northern SA, which was formerly part of their range.

Rufous-crowned Emu-wrens have a strong preference for habitats dominated by tall, dense, unburnt Triodia ("Spinifex") grass. They can be found both in plains and along rocky hill slopes, where the Triodia ("Spinifex") grass is mixed in with low shrubs.

M. Eaton reports finding a family clan of Rufous-crowned Emu-wrens near Opalton, QLD, on various occasions since June 2021. All sighting, photographic and audio information presented on this page has been kindly contributed by M. Eaton.