Oreoscopus gutturalis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The fernwren (Oreoscopus gutturalis) is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is monotypic within the genus Oreoscopus. It is endemic to northern Queensland in Australia. Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland forest and tropical moist montane forest.
The fernwren was first described by the English zoologist and ornithologist Charles Walter De Vis in 1889, and grouped with the scrubwrens as Sericornis gutturalis. It was later included in the genus Crateroscelis, along with three species of mouse-warblers found in New Guinea, but was subsequently moved to the monotypic genus Oreoscopus (established by North in 1905). The fernwren is a basal (subfamily) member of Acanthizidae and sister to the genus Pachycare.
The generic name Oreoscopus derives from the Ancient Greek oros meaning 'mountain' and scopos meaning 'guardian' or 'watcher'. The specific epithet gutturalis is Mediaeval Latin for 'of the throat', referring to the prominent white throat of this species. It was also known colloquially as the collared scrubwren.
The fernwren has a white eyebrow and throat, enclosing a dark brown face. Beneath the white throat, it has a black bib... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Fernwren sighting in Daintree National Park on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 155th most-seen of the 208 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Fernwren in Daintree National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Fernwren sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Daintree National Park, in our data
Daintree National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Fernwren sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Acanthizidae
The closest relatives of the Fernwren that you can see in Daintree National Park (family Acanthizidae, Thornbills and Allies) are Large-billed Gerygone (about 50%), Fairy Gerygone (about 10%) and Large-billed Scrubwren (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Fernwren is recorded against all the birds logged in Daintree National Park (17 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
