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26

Little Grassbird (Megalurus gramineus) Alternate name(s): "Little Marshbird", "Striated Grassbird" Size: 13-15 cm Weight: 12 g (average)

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Similar species

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

Physical description Click here for a physical description Little Grassbirds are medium-sized reed birds of Australia. Their plumage is highly cryptic. The front is light-grey, with darker grey striation. They have inconspicuous dark eye stripes, with grey eyebrows above these. The crown is rufous-brown, the mantle, back and rump are lighter-brown, all with darker streaking. The flight feathers are dark-grey, with a thin near-white leading edge. The tail is plain dark-grey. There are variations in darkness and striation in the different races. The eyes have dark irises. The almost straight bill has a grey upper mandible, the lower mandible is horn-coloured. The legs and feet are grey. Juvenile Little Grassbirds have a yellowish tinge on frons, supercilia, cheeks and chest.

Taxonomy, classification See Little Grassbird 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 Little Grassbird is available HERE . Little Grassbirds are found only in Australia and in West Papua (eastern Indonesia). There are three races of Little Grassbirds in Australia, all of which are endemic. Nominate race "gramineus" is found only in Tasmania and the other major islands along Bass Strait. Race "goulburni" populates most of the eastern half of the continent. They breed in the south-eastern corner, with a boundary line from about the Hunter Valley, NSW, to Culgoa NP, NSW, and from there to Eyre peninsula in SA. Outside the breeding season they extend their range further northwards, into the rest of NSW, all of southern QLD (up to roughly the tropic of Capricorn), the eastern half of SA and the south-eastern NT, including Alice Springs. They are only rarely found further North, up to the base of Cape York peninsula, through the central NT and towards the Victoria River catchment. Race "thomasi" breeds in the south-western corner of WA, to the South of Perth. Outside their breeding season they extend their range along the West coast up to about Carnarvon, WA. Little Grassbirds can be found in reeds, tall grass and other vegetation in and around swamps and lakes.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "goulburni" A single Little Grassbird, race "goulburni", was first observed by us in reeds at Narrabri Lake in November 2010. Since then Little Grassbirds are found by us regularly at Narrabri Lake and in many other wetlands in inland NSW. R. Plumtree reports spotting a Little Grassbird, race "goulburni", at Ensay South, East Gippsland, VIC, in January 2014. M. Eaton reports finding Little Grassbirds, race "goulburni", at Wynnum Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, in August 2017. Race "thomasi" J. Greaves reports finding Little Grassbirds, race "thomasi", at Lake Claremont, Perth, WA, in January 2015.

Photos

Race "goulburni"

ADULT

MALE

Close-up frontal view of a Little Grassbird; this is the bird whose calls were recorded on 29 July 2022; if our interpretation of the calls is correct, this bird is a male
[Pilliga Lagoon, Pilliga, NSW, July 2022]

Sex unknown

Close-up frontal view of a Little Grassbird (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Wynnum Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, August 2017]

Frontal view of a Little Grassbird; this is the bird whose calls were recorded on 10 March 2020
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, March 2020]

Close-up lateral view of a Little Grassbird (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Ensay South, East Gippsland, VIC, January 2014]

Lateral view of a Little Grassbird in reeds
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, March 2020]

Little Grassbird in typical posture, now seen more sideways
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, August 2013]

Dorsal view of a Little Grassbird with its tail up high
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, September 2010]

Dorsal view of a Little Grassbird in reeds
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, August 2013]

Find the bird - who can spot the Little Grassbird?
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, August 2013]

Little Grassbird issuing its call
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, August 2013]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Close-up frontal view of a juvenile Little Grassbird looking sideways; note the characteristic yellow tinge around the bill
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Wynnum Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, August 2017]

Close-up frontal view of a juvenile Little Grassbird looking sideways; note the characteristic yellow tinge around the bill
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Wynnum Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD, August 2017]

Race "thomasi"

ADULT

Sex unknown

Lateral view of a Little Grassbird in reeds (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Lake Claremont, Perth, WA, January 2015]

Near-dorsal view of a Little Grassbird, in a posture typical of this species, with the head down and the tail high up
(photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Lake Claremont, Perth, WA, January 2015]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Sedentary

Elementary unit: Solitary/pair

Little Grassbirds are secretive birds that, although audible when calling, are very hard to find for visual identification.

Little Grassbird having a look around (click on image for overview) - this was the only time in half an hour's bird watch that one of four individuals was visible, other than when darting from one patch of reeds to another; this is one of the birds whose calls were recorded on 16 May 2018
[Pilliga, NSW, May 2018]

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.

A number of contact calls are presented here to document their variability, in particular in pitch.

ltgrass_20190616_2.m4a	goulburni (NW NSW)	Territorial call (male)	© MD
ltgrass_20190616.m4a	goulburni (NW NSW)	Territorial calls (male)	© MD
ltgrass_20220729_2.m4a	goulburni (NW NSW)	Territorial call (male) + "rattling" call response (female)	© MD
ltgrass_20180516_3.m4a	goulburni (NW NSW)	Chirp (male) + "rattling" call response (female)	© MD
ltgrass_20200310_1.m4a	goulburni (NW NSW)	? + territorial call (male)	© MD
ltgrass_20200310_2.m4a	goulburni (NW NSW)	? (+ Eurasian Coot & Australian Reed-Warbler)	© MD

More Little Grassbird 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.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Sun, 31 July 2022, 2:21 +00:00