Acanthiza uropygialis
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins (photo by Patrick Kavanagh) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The chestnut-rumped thornbill (Acanthiza uropygialis) is a small passerine bird in the family Acanthizidae, endemic to Australia. Specially named for its pale-chestnut rump from mediaeval Latin uropygium, the rump. Its other names include chestnut-tailed or chestnut-backed thornbill, tit or tit-warbler, chestnut-rumped tit or tit-warbler.
A plain, pale thornbill, with pale eyes, it is widespread throughout inland Australia, west of the Great Dividing Range to the West Australian coast but is absent in the far north and humid southwest Western Australia. It is a cooperative breeder like some of the other thornbills
Described and classified by John Gould in 1838 in Synopsis of Birds of Australia, from a specimen collected in Liverpool Plains NSW. Type, male, No17602 (525) is in the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, United States. A specimen from the Gould collection is in the British Museum.
Mathews (1912) recognised a number of different subspecies of Acanthiza Uropygialis: A.u.ruthergleni, mellori, augusta, nea, murchisoni and condora, with A.u.kycheringi added in 1922. Campbell (1925) added subspecies Geobasilus uropygialis moora and G.u. erema...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hattah-Kulkyne National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Flinders Ranges National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Pilliga National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alice Springs Desert Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Chestnut-rumped Thornbill sighting in Pilliga National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 44th most-seen of the 58 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Chestnut-rumped Thornbill in Pilliga National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February, June, August and November, the lowest months. January, March–May and October have too few records to rate.
Between 1 and 4 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Chestnut-rumped Thornbill sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
3rd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Chestnut-rumped Thornbill sightings, Pilliga National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park (Australia, about 50%) and Flinders Ranges National Park (Australia, about 20%).
Same genus: Acanthiza
The closest relatives of the Chestnut-rumped Thornbill that you can see in Pilliga National Park (genus Acanthiza, Australasian Thornbills) are Yellow Thornbill (about 20%), Inland Thornbill (about 10%) and Yellow-rumped Thornbill (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Chestnut-rumped Thornbill is recorded against all the birds logged in Pilliga National Park (7 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.
