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Slender-billed Thornbills are very small bushland birds. Their plumage is very inconspicuous. Their forehead is lightly scalloped brown-on-grey. The throat is light-grey, while the rest of the front is cinnamon-grey. Only race "rosinae" has a somewhat darker front. The sides of the head are faintly scalloped brownish-grey. The upperparts are brownish-grey, with darker brown-grey flight and tail feathers. They have a small pale-buff rump patch that is hard to see when the wings are folded. The irises are light-grey; the slender bill, legs and feet are dark-grey to black.

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 Slender-billed Thornbill 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.

Slender-billed Thornbills are endemic to Australia. Originally found over much of the Australian continent, their distribution is now reduced to parts of southern and western Australia, from about Exmouth, WA, in the West, to the of SA with VIC in the East. There are 3 extant races. Nominate race "iredalei" is the most widespread, with a patchy distribution ranging from ca. Exmouth, WA, inland, towards southern SA. In southern WA, they are NOT found in the range of the Western Thornbill, i.e., south-western part of the state, southward of about Geraldton and westward of about Kalgoorlie. The range of race "iredalei" does include the area from about Esperance, WA, towards southern SA, including the Nullarbor. In SA they are only found in the southern-most, near-coastal parts, up to about Bimbowrie Conservation Park in the East, but excluding the tip of Eyre peninsula. Race "rosinae" has a very limited range around the Gulf St. Vincent. Most are found in an area from Port Wakefield, SA, to Adelaide, SA. The third race, "hedleyi", is now restricted to a small area near the border region of SA with VIC, in Little Desert NP and westward of it.

The different races of Slender-billed Thornbills have slightly different habitat preferences. Race "iredalei" is found mostly in chenopod shrublands, often near salt lakes, and nearby thickets. Race "rosinae" favours coastal samphire shrubland near tidal channels, whereas race "hedleyi" occurs in up to 2 m tall dry heath.

Race "rosinae"