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Yellow Thornbill (Acanthiza nana) Alternate name(s): "Little Thornbill", "Little Tit", "Yellow-breasted Tomtit", "Yellow Dicky" Size: 9-10 cm Body mass: 5-8 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 Yellow Thornbills are very small bushland birds. They are the smallest of all Australian thornbills. The front, from the throat down to the undertail coverts, is bright yellow, while the back is greyish olive-green with a brown tinge. The tail and flight feathers are brownish, with dark-grey edges. Yellow Thornbills have streaked ear coverts. The eyes have dark irises. The bill, legs and feet are black. Inland birds (race "modesta") have plainer colours than the coastal race "nana".

Taxonomy, classification See Yellow Thornbill 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 Yellow Thornbill is available HERE . Yellow Thornbills are endemic to Australia. The range of Yellow Thornbills is restricted to the East and South-east of the Australian continent. Nominate race "nana" has a range that is restricted at its western, northern and southern end by a line connecting Brisbane, QLD, and Canberra, ACT. Race "flava" is found in the Atherton Tablelands, QLD. Further to the South, in an area about half the East-West width of NSW ranging from central QLD to the South-East coast of VIC, race "modesta" is found (with the exception of the southern Alps). In years with good inland rainfall race "modesta" can disperse farther into the interior, adding the catchment of the Paroo River to its range. Yellow Thornbills can be found in various types of dry forest and woodland, usually dominated by cypress pines, eucalypts or various types of acacias.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "nana" B. Hensen reports spotting Yellow Thornbills, nominate race "nana", semi-regularly at St. Albans, NSW. They were found breeding at this location in December 2016. A. Campbell reports spotting Yellow Thornbills, nominate race "nana", semi-regularly at at Mount McEuen, QLD, near the north-western border of their range. Race "modesta" We see Yellow Thornbills, race "modesta", regularly at Eulah Creek, 20 km East of Narrabri, NSW, and elsewhere in the area (e.g. in the Pilliga scrub). V. Collins has also found Yellow Thornbills to be common eastward of Narrabri, NSW, e.g. along Bullawa Creek. C. Hayne reports seeing Yellow Thornbills, race "modesta", regularly in woodland near Moree, NSW, e.g. around Whittaker's Lagoon, 20 km West of Moree. Yellow Thornbills, race "modesta", have also been spotted by us in central western NSW, e.g. around Gilgandra, in October 2016.

Photos

Race "nana"

ADULT

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a Yellow Thornbill (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, January 2013]

Near-lateral view of a Yellow Thornbill (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, December 2012]

Lateral view of a Yellow Thornbill (photo courtesy of A. Campbell)
[Mount McEuen, QLD, August 2017]

Lateral view from below of a Yellow Thornbill (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, May 2015]

Frontal view of a soaking wet Yellow Thornbill (photo courtesy of A. Campbell)
[Mount McEuen, QLD, August 2017]

Race "modesta"

ADULT

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a Yellow Thornbill
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2017]

Frontal view of a Yellow Thornbill
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2025]

Close-up frontal view of a Yellow Thornbill looking upwards
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2025]

Frontal/ventral view of a Yellow Thornbill looking sideways; note how this bird has a more orange throat than others
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2017]

Close-up near-frontal view of a Yellow Thornbill "trapped" in an open garage
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2023]

Near-lateral view of a Yellow Thornbill
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2017]

Close-up lateral view of a Yellow Thornbill "trapped" in an open garage looking at the observer
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2023]

Close-up lateral view of a Yellow Thornbill "trapped" in an open garage
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2023]

Lateral view of a Yellow Thornbill hunting for small insects in an Acacia salicina
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2011]

Close-up lateral/ventral view of a Yellow Thornbill
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2016]

Close-up lateral/ventral view of a Yellow Thornbill
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2017]

Lateral/ventral view of a preening Yellow Thornbill
[Bullawa Creek SCA, near Narrabri, NSW, April 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a Yellow Thornbill
[Mt. Kaputar NP, near Narrabri, NSW, October 2020]

Close-up near-dorsal/ventral view of a Yellow Thornbill "trapped" in an open garage
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2023]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a Yellow Thornbill
[Near Narrabri, NSW, September 2019]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a Yellow Thornbill
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2016]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Jul - Dec

Eggs: 3

Incubation period: ?

Fledging age: ?

Nest building: Female & male

Incubation: Female & male

Dependent care: Female & male

Nest

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

Type: Dome

Material: Bark fibres, dry grass, webs

Height above ground: 3 - 15 m

Yellow Thornbills have the smallest, least conspicuous nests of all thornbills. These nests are always built in trees, not in shrubs. Sometimes the nests are decorated, e.g. with spiders' egg sacs.

Yellow Thornbill, race "nana", entering its nest (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, December 2016]

Yellow Thornbill, race "nana", looking out of its nest (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, December 2016]

Eggs

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

Size: 16 x 12 mm

Colour: Creamy, with mid-brown to chestnut speckles

Shape: Tapered oval

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Sedentary/roaming?

Elementary unit: Family clan/mob

Yellow Thornbills are furtive little birds that can be hard to find, because they tend to remain in trees (e.g. Cypress pines), mostly in shady areas, moving around quickly.

Yellow Thornbills are often seen by us foraging in mixed flocks together with other thornbills (mostly Inland Thornbills or Brown Thornbills) and Weebills.

Close-up lateral view of a Yellow Thornbill approaching a bird bath
[Eulah Creek, NSW, March 2022]

Close-up view of a Yellow Thornbill in a bird bath
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2022]

Frontal view of a Yellow Thornbill shaking dry its plumage(!)
[Eulah Creek, NSW, June 2023]

This Yellow Thornbill is wet from dew bathing on the leaves of an ironbark eucalypt
[Eulah Creek, NSW, June 2023]

Food, Diet

To the best of our knowledge, all thornbills feed on small insects that they pick off leaves. As shown in the photo below, this is at least true for Yellow Thornbills.

Close-up ventral view of a Yellow Thornbill with an insect it has just caught
[Eulah Creek, NSW, April 2016]

Near-lateral view of a Yellow Thornbill - it is not after the Acacia salicina's nectar, but after whatever insect is feeding on the nectar
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2011]

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.

ylthbil_20250101.m4a	modesta (NW NSW)	Contact calls	© MD
ylthbil_20171101.m4a	modesta (NW NSW)	Contact calls	© MD
ylthbil_20260626.m4a	modesta (NW NSW)	Contact calls + checking out human	© MD
ylthbil_20230603.mp3	(NW NSW)	Yellow Thornbill alarm call & Yellow-rumped Thornbill departure	© MD
ylthbil_20220521.m4a	modesta (NW NSW)	Various (mob)	© MD
ylthbil_20171101_2.m4a	modesta (NW NSW)	Various (mob foraging)	© MD

More Yellow Thornbill sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

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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