Southern scrub robin
| Southern scrub robin | |
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| Species: | D. brunneopygia
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| Binomial name | |
| Drymodes brunneopygia Gould, 1840
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The southern scrub robin (Drymodes brunneopygia) is a species of bird in the family Petroicidae. It is endemic to Australia, where it occurs in mallee and heathland in the semi-arid southern parts of the continent, extending from the Little Desert in the east though South Australia to the west coast between Kalbarri and the Pinnacles.
It is a relatively dull and large robin, adults being around 22 centimetres (9 in) in length, of which around a third is the tail feathers. Most of the plumage is grey, except for a dullish red tail and patterned black-and-white wings. The legs are unusually long for a passerine, and are frequently used to hop through the dense heathland that forms the bird's habitat, where it searches for insects and other small invertebrates.
Unusually for a passerine, the southern scrub robin lays only a single egg, which is grey-green in colour for camouflage amongst the sclerophyllous flora that forms its habitat. This egg is laid every year between July and December[2] and hatches after sixteen days in a nest of twigs on the ground.