Bird Guide

Rufous Songlark vs Tawny Grassbird

Rufous Songlark (Cincloramphus mathewsi)

Rufous Songlark

Cincloramphus mathewsi

Small29 gGrassland

The rufous songlark is a medium brown passerine songbird with a pattern of streaks on its feathers. Encyclopædia Britannica describes this bird as "drab and vaguely larklike". It has a dark line through its eye, a pale eyebrow and pale underparts, and a rufous upper tail and rump. A little larger than a house sparrow, the male grows to about 19 cm (7.5 in) in length and is larger than the female which reaches only about 16 cm (6.3 in). This species is similar to the brown songlark but males of that species are much larger than those of the rufous songlark.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0
Tawny Grassbird (Cincloramphus timoriensis)

Tawny Grassbird

Cincloramphus timoriensis

Small22 gWetland

The tawny grassbird is a medium sized grassbird with a wingspan of 56-69mm, a stout bill 14-17mmand weighs around 13-25g. The bird has an unstreaked rufous (rich brown) cap, obvious rufous fringes to flight feathers on the folded wing and wholly unstreaked underparts. It also has a long drooping tail and rufous rump. The male has a varied song given in both display flights and from exposed perches. The males sing mostly in spring and summer. The tawny grassbird is distinguished from the related little grassbird by its larger size, stouter bill, more rufous plumage and longer tail. Voice: The Slater Field Guide notes the voice is a rich ch-ch-ch-zzzzzzt lik lik: loud see-lick: high-pitched descending trill. In flight, it has "metallic chuck chuck chuck." The Australian Bird Guide describes displaying males with a "delightful varied song, given both in display flights and from exposed perches. Its alarm call is a repeated "harsh tjik or jk-jk".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: (c) Rolf Lawrenz, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Rufous Songlark and Tawny Grassbird.