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Dusky Robin (Melanodryas vittata)

Dusky Robin
Photo: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 — free for commercial reuse.

About the Dusky Robin

The dusky robin (Melanodryas vittata) is a small passerine bird native to Tasmania. A member of the Australian robin family Petroicidae, it is known by many other names such as Dozey, Sad, Sleepy, Stump, Tasmania/Wood Robin; Native Sparrow or Sad Bird. This sombre dark brown robin is characterised by a narrow line, starting from behind the eye to the rear of the ear-coverts and white bars running down it wings. The origin of its binomial name was derived from a Latin word vittatus, which means 'banded'. The dusky robin was described by the French zoologists Jean Quoy and Joseph Gaimard in 1832 based on a specimen that the authors mistakenly believed had been collected in "le port du Roi-Georges, à la Nouvelle-Hollande", but that had actually come from Tasmania.

Source: Dusky robin on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA
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No audio on this page yet

We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 19 recordings for this species: 10 CC BY-NC-SA · 9 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.

As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.

Listed as recorded in Australia in the xeno-canto catalogue.