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17

Speckled Warbler (Chthonicola sagittata) Alternate name(s): "Little Field-lark", "Little Wren", "Speckled Jack", "Blood-tit", "Jenny-wren", "Chocolatebird" Size: 12-13 cm Weight: 11-15 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 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 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

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

Physical description Click here for a physical description Speckled Warblers are small bushland birds. They have prominent white lores and eyebrows that extend around the brownish ear patch. The cap is brown, with fine white striation. The back is broadly streaked black and olive, the front (throat to belly) is boldly striated with blackish streaks on off-white background. The flight feathers are black with a thin white leading edge. The tail is olive and the outer tail feathers have a white terminal band. The vent is cinnamon. Male Speckled Warblers have a black streak above the white eyebrow, females a chestnut one. The irises are dark-orange; the bill, legs and feet are grey. Juveniles resemble females with bold striation down the front.

Taxonomy, classification See Speckled Warbler 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 Speckled Warbler is available HERE . Speckled Warblers are endemic to Australia. They are found only in the East and South-East of the Australian continent, southward of about the tropic of Capricorn. Their range includes the Great Dividing Range from about Rockhampton, QLD, to just North of Melbourne, VIC. They are not found along a narrow coastal strip North of the Hunter River, NSW, but their range extends inland as far as the line Bourke-Cobar in NSW. Speckled Warblers can be found in dry forest and open woodland, usually foraging on low branches, in undergrowth or on the ground.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Speckled Warblers are quite a rare sight 20 km South of Narrabri, NSW, and it took us a while to identify them. First seen there, with identification, in August 2006, then again in October 2006. In April 2007 a pair of Speckled Warblers came onto the lawn of our place at Eulah Creek, 20 km East of Narrabri. A pair of Speckled Warblers stayed in dense scrub throughout the winter months and spring of 2007, nesting very early at the end of winter and raising their chicks there. Once the offspring had fledged, they all disappeared. They were seen occasionally in the following years, but since our paddock has been slashed (and subsequently kept short) and undergrowth has been pruned, Speckled Warblers have all but disappeared. Only in April 2013 a group of 4 birds was seen again for a short period of time, in the wildest part of the property. Speckled Warblers can be seen regularly in Deriah Aboriginal Area, 30 km East of Narrabri, and Mt. Kaputar NP, where we have found them reliably in the years since 2007. They were also found by us at Porcupine Reserve, Gunnedah, NSW, in December 2008 and again in August 2011. In September 2011 a pair of Speckled Warblers was spotted by us on the edge of Leard State Forest, near Maules Creek, NSW. They are observed by us regularly on the western fringe of Mt. Kaputar NP, some 40-50 km East of Narrabri. R. Plumtree reports spotting Speckled Warblers occasionally in the area of Ensay, East Gippsland, VIC. They were also found in the Melville Cave area in Inglewood SF, VIC, in September 2018. J. Wilson reports finding Speckled Warblers nesting in the Pilliga West Forest, 45 km NW of Baradine, NSW, in September 2015. A. Campbell reports spotting Speckled Warblers at Mount McEuen, QLD, in October 2016. M. Eaton reports finding Speckled Warblers at Gold Scrub Lane, Lake Samsonvale, QLD, in November 2020.

Photos

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ADULT

MALE

Near-frontal view of a male Speckled Warbler; note the black supercilium
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2017]

Near-frontal view of a male Speckled Warbler
[Near Narrabri, NSW, September 2010]

Lateral view of the same male Speckled Warbler as shown above
[Near Narrabri, NSW, September 2010]

Dorsal view of a male Speckled Warbler (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Near Ensay, East Gippsland, VIC, May 2014]

Male Speckled Warbler preening
[Eulah Creek, NSW, 2006]

FEMALE

Frontal view of a female Speckled Warbler foraging on the ground
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2017]

Frontal view of a female Speckled Warbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Gold Scrub Lane, Lake Samsonvale, QLD, November 2020]

Near-frontal view of a female Speckled Warbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Gold Scrub Lane, Lake Samsonvale, QLD, November 2020]

Near-frontal view of a female Speckled Warbler foraging on the ground; note the brown supercilium
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2017]

Near-lateral view of a female Speckled Warbler
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2007]

Lateral view of a female Speckled Warbler foraging on the ground; note the brown supercilium
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2017]

Lateral view of a female Speckled Warbler (photo courtesy of A. Campbell)
[Mount McEuen, QLD, August 2017]

Lateral/ventral view of a female Speckled Warbler (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Gold Scrub Lane, Lake Samsonvale, QLD, November 2020]

Dorsal view of a female Speckled Warbler foraging on the ground
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2017]

Female Speckled Warbler preening
[Eulah Creek, NSW, 2006]

Speckled Warbler foraging on the ground
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2007]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal view of a fledgling Speckled Warbler
[Bullawa Creek SCA, NSW, September 2010]

This photo shows clearly the downy feathers the fledgling Speckled Warbler is yet to shed
[Bullawa Creek SCA, NSW, September 2010]

Fledgling Speckled Warbler, different viewing angle...
[Bullawa Creek SCA, NSW, September 2010]

Lateral view of the same fledgling Speckled Warbler as shown above
[Bullawa Creek SCA, NSW, September 2010]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Sep - Jan

Eggs: 3 - 4

Incubation period: ?

Fledging age: ?

Most field guides list starting dates for the Speckled Warbler's breeding season of August to September, which is in line with many other species. Our experience, however, is that Speckled Warblers are amongst the very first breeders of the year, i.e. if they breed in August it can still be freezing cold. We assume that, as insect eaters, they find enough food in wintertime to start breeding early in order to beat any migratory small cuckoos to it. The fledgling bird shown on this page was seen on the day in early September 2010 when the first migratory birds that leave Australia during the southern winter arrived in the Narrabri area.

Nest

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

Type: Dome

Material: Grass, bark strips

Height above ground: N/A

The nests of Speckled Warblers are at ground level, at the base of plants or in small hollows.

Speckled Warbler nest hidden in litter at the base of a tree (photo courtesy of J. Wilson)
[Pilliga West Forest, NW of Baradine, NSW, September 2015]

When seen from a different angle, a Speckled Warbler nest is almost invisible (photo courtesy of J. Wilson)
[Pilliga West Forest, NW of Baradine, NSW, September 2015]

Speckled Warbler nest in a heap of garden rubbish that was supposed to be removed, but then wasn't... (photo courtesy of A. Campbell)
[Mount McEuen, QLD, August 2017]

Speckled Warbler nest at the base of an old stump; again the entrance is almost invisible (photo courtesy of D. Johnston)
[Coonabarabran/Coonamble/Gulargambone area, NSW, 1986]

Male Speckled Warbler carrying nesting material (photo courtesy of A. Campbell)
[Mount McEuen, QLD, August 2017]

Female Speckled Warbler carrying nesting material (photo courtesy of A. Campbell)
[Mount McEuen, QLD, August 2017]

Male Speckled Warbler collecting nesting material
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2007]

Speckled Warbler nest with "avant garde" roof design
[Killarney SCA, NSW, July 2019]

The entrance to the Speckled Warbler nest under the old car door
[Killarney SCA, NSW, July 2019]

Speckled Warbler entering the nest with new material
[Killarney SCA, NSW, July 2019]

Male Speckled Warbler carrying nest material
[Killarney SCA, NSW, July 2019]

Female Speckled Warbler carrying nest material
[Killarney SCA, NSW, July 2019]

Eggs

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

Size: 19 x 16 mm

Colour: Chocolate brown

Shape: Tapered oval

Speckled Warbler egg temporarily displayed outside the nest (photo courtesy of D. Johnston)
[Coonabarabran/Coonamble/Gulargambone area, NSW, 1986]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Sedentary

Elementary unit: Pair

Speckled Warblers are often seen by us together with other small birds, in particular various kinds of Thornbills found in the region.

Unusual sight: Speckled Warbler foraging out in the open
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, May 2016]

In a territorial dispute male Speckled Warblers can display their crest
[Bullawa Creek SCA, NSW, August 2017]

Food, Diet

Speckled Warblers hunt for small insects and caterpillars on the ground and in the understory of woodland.

Male Speckled Warbler foraging on the ground; they usually stay in dimly lit areas, avoiding direct sunlight
[Deriah Aboriginal Area, NSW, July 2013]

Female Speckled Warbler bringing food for its brood, in this case a juicy caterpillar
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2022]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

spkwarb_20190519_2.m4a	(NW NSW)	Territorial call	© MD
spkwarb_20200815.m4a	(NW NSW)	Territorial call	© MD
spkwarb_20190519.m4a	(NW NSW)	Territorial call	© MD
spkwarb_20140612.m4a	(NW NSW)	(Shortened?) territorial call	© MD
spkwarb_20170430_2.mp3	(NW NSW)	Warning calls	© MD
spkwarb_20150626.mp3	(NW NSW)	Warning calls (female)	© MD
spkwarb_20190912.m4a	(NW NSW)	Various	© MD

More Speckled Warbler sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .