17

Chestnut-breasted Whiteface (Aphelocephala pectoralis) Alternate name(s): "Chestnut-breasted Tit" Size: 10 cm Body mass: 8-10 g

Australia: Family Group 17 Family Group 17 Table Spotted Pardalote Forty-spotted Pardalote Red-browed Pardalote Striated Pardalote Large-billed Scrubwren Atherton Scrubwren White-browed Scrubwren Spotted Scrubwren Tasmanian Scrubwren Yellow-throated Scrubwren Pilotbird Rock Warbler Chestnut-rumped Heathwren Shy Heathwren Striated Fieldwren Rufous Fieldwren Fernwren Scrubtit Speckled Warbler Redthroat Western Gerygone Brown Gerygone Mangrove Gerygone Dusky Gerygone Large-billed Gerygone Green-backed Gerygone Fairy Gerygone White-throated Gerygone Weebill Yellow Thornbill Striated Thornbill Buff-rumped Thornbill Yellow-rumped Thornbill Western Thornbill Slender-billed Thornbill Chestnut-rumped Thornbill Brown Thornbill Inland Thornbill Slaty-backed Thornbill Tasmanian Thornbill Mountain Thornbill Southern Whiteface Chestnut-breasted Whiteface Banded Whiteface Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Chestnut-breasted Whitefaces are very small bushland birds. Both sexes look alike. They have a light-grey frons, with a narrow darker grey band above it, between the eyes. The cap is greyish-brown. The front is off-white (throat, belly) to light-grey, with a broad rufous breast band in between. The mantle is rufous, while the rump is greyish-brown. The uppertail is dark-grey, with white terminal spots. The wing feathers are dark grey-brown, while the flanks are scalloped rufous-white. The irises are grey. The short bill is dark-grey, while the legs and feet are near-black.

Taxonomy, classification See Chestnut-breasted Whiteface at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range 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 Chestnut-breasted Whiteface is available HERE . NB: Reports on ebird of birds submitted by birdwatchers from the Australian Outback tend to be clustered along roads and public areas such as camp grounds; in such cases their distribution is not a good representation of the overall distribution of the species. Chestnut-breasted Whitefaces are endemic to the Australian continent. Their range is limited to parts of South Australia, around the Lake Eyre Basin. They are mostly found in two areas, on the western side of the Gammon Ranges (around Lyndhurst to Lyndhurst Mountain) and northward from there (between Lake Eyre and the Strzelecki Desert), and on the south-western to western side of Lake Eyre, from about Bon Bon, SA, north-northeastward towards the border with the NT. Chestnut-breasted Whitefaces specialise in arid, stony low chenopod shrubland. Generally, they favour sparse vegetation, including short herbs and grasses, mixed with stony areas, usually along hill ridges.

Sightings Click here for sighting information M. Eaton found Chestnut-breasted Whitefaces near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, in October 2022, and again in June 2023. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has been kindly contributed by M. Eaton.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, June 2023]

Frontal view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, June 2023]

Near-frontal view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, June 2023]

Near-frontal view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, June 2023]

Near-lateral view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, June 2023]

Near-lateral view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, June 2023]

Lateral view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, October 2022]

Near-dorsal view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, October 2022]

Near-dorsal view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, June 2023]

Near-dorsal view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, October 2022]

Dorsal view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, June 2023]

Dorsal view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, October 2022]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Aug - Sep

Eggs: 3

Incubation period: ?

Fledging age: ?

Listed in the table above is the core breeding period. As most species in the Australian Outback, Chestnut-breasted Whitefaces often also breed at other times, in response to good rainfall.

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Dome

Material: Twigs, soft lining

Height above ground: <1.5(?) m

View of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface nest (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, October 2022]

Chestnut-breasted Whiteface nest (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, October 2022]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 18 x 13 mm

Colour: Off-white, with chestnut speckles

Shape: Tapered oval

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Sedentary

Elementary unit: Pair/mob

While on the ground, Chestnut-breasted Whitefaces rely on their excellent camouflage.

Frontal view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface on the ground in sunny conditions (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, June 2023]

Lateral view of a Chestnut-breasted Whiteface on the ground in shady conditions (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near the Will Hutchinson Memorial, 8 km S of Coober Pedy, SA, June 2023]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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