Recently, I travelled back to Tasmania after being away for 4 years to visit friends and do some wildlife spotting. My trip turned out to be very successful and along the way I managed to photograph some wildlife species that I had no pictures of. One such species was the Tasmanian Scrubwren. This small bird is easily recognized by the white line above and below the eye, white tip at the shoulder and dark brown colouring. Some people who are familiar with birds will look at the Tasmanian Scrubwren and think it is the mainland White-browed Scrubwren. There are subtle differences with the Tasmanian Scrubwren being a slightly larger bird and being darker brown in colour over a lot of the body.
The Tasmanian Scrubwren can be found all over the island is a variety of habitats. Suitable habitat must have dense undergrowth and the birds will utilise coastal scrubs to urban gardens and parks. These birds are usually not hard to find if one is familiar with their call. It closely resembles the call of a White-browed Scrubwren. This small bird is very common in its preferred habitat, and I have seen good numbers in places such as Bruny Island and Narawntapu National Park. Like their mainland cousins, these birds prefer to forage close to the ground and very rarely venture out of the thick undergrowth. This small bird is one of the twelve endemic bird species that can only be seen in Tasmania and is found nowhere else in the world. I first saw this small bird back in 2015 on Bruny Island when I first came to Tasmania.
Tasmania does not have many bird species but what is present on the island is truly unique. It is also the last stronghold for some Australian mammals such as due to the lack of foxes present on the island. No trip to Tasmania is ever the same and after all these years I still keep having new wildlife experience. I totally recommend booking a trip to Tassie as soon as possible to enjoy its natural beauty…
