SPECIES: Aphelocephala leucopsis — Southern Whiteface
CLASSIFICATION: Vulnerable
Measuring in at just over 10cm in length, the Southern Whiteface is a small, stocky thornbill-like bird with a white belly, dark brown wings and a black tail with a narrow white tip. Its characteristic marking being the white band across its forehead. Still found across most of southern mainland Australia (south of the tropics), their known habitat is open woodlands and shrublands where there is an understorey of grasses, shrubs - or both. The Southern Whiteface forages almost exclusively on the ground, feeding on insects, spiders and seeds it gleans from within the leaf litter or bare ground. Sadly, the population has substantially declined; habitat loss and fragmentation the big threats to the survival of the species.