Grey Shrikethrush

The Grey Shrikethrush is a robust, medium-sized songbird with plumage that is deliberately unremarkable: soft grey upperparts, paler grey underparts, a faint whitish eyebrow, and a stout, slightly hooked bill suited to its varied diet. Despite its plain appearance, it is widely regarded as one of Australia's finest songsters, with a rich, melodious, and highly varied voice that carries impressively through open forest.

Sexes are similar, though females and some subspecies show subtle brownish tones on the wings not present in males. The species is highly adaptable, occupying an unusually broad range of habitats from wet forest to arid scrub, and is a bold, confident bird often seen foraging on the ground, in trees, and even entering campsites and gardens for scraps.

Its confiding nature and beautiful voice have made the Grey Shrikethrush a well-loved bird across much of Australia, often one of the first species new birdwatchers learn to recognise by ear, even before spotting the bird's understated grey form.

Key field marks

• Medium-sized, robust songbird with soft grey-brown upperparts and paler grey underparts
• Faint pale eyebrow stripe
• Stout, slightly hooked bill
• Rich, varied, melodious song, often given from a prominent perch

Similar species

The Grey Fantail is much smaller and slimmer with a long, constantly fanned tail and active, flitting behaviour, quite different from the Grey Shrikethrush's more deliberate, robust presence. Female Rufous and Golden Whistlers are smaller with finer bills and lack the shrikethrush's rich, complex song; overall bulk, bill shape, and voice are the best distinguishing features.

Habitat

Grey Shrikethrushes are remarkably adaptable, occurring in rainforest, wet and dry eucalypt forest, woodland, mallee, arid scrub, and well-vegetated gardens and parks.

Range

The species is found across almost all of mainland Australia and Tasmania, absent only from the most extreme desert areas, making it one of the continent's most widely distributed songbirds.

Migration

Most populations are sedentary, holding stable territories year-round, though some local movement may occur in response to food availability in harsher inland areas.

Behavior

This bird forages confidently at all levels from the ground to the canopy, often perching prominently to sing, and can become quite tame around campsites and gardens where food is available.

Voice

Its song is a rich, loud, and highly varied series of melodious whistled phrases, considered by many to be among the most beautiful of any Australian bird, often delivered from a high, exposed perch.

Feeding

It has a broad diet including insects, spiders, small lizards, and occasionally small birds' eggs or nestlings, along with some fruit, foraged from the ground, bark, and foliage.

Nesting and breeding

The nest is a solid cup of bark, twigs, and grass, built in a tree fork, stump hollow, or occasionally on a building ledge; both parents share incubation and feeding of the young.