WeebillScientific name: Smicrornis brevirostris

Meaning of name: Smicrornis is from the Greek words smicros, meaning small, and ornis, meaning bird. Brevirostris is from the Latin words brevis, meaning short, and rostrum, meaning bill.

Aboriginal name: Kiderbot (kid’e’bawt).

Distribution: Widespread across mainland Australia.

Description: Up to 9.5cm long with a 16.5cm wingspan.

Notes: The furthest distance recorded by the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme for this species of bird to travel is 184 km. The oldest bird recorded was still alive when its band was read in October 1989, 7 years 4.7 months after being banded (information as at 21 June 2012).

The photographs for this species were not taken in the reserves of interest to the FQPB.

References: Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Various contributors.

What Bird is That? Neville W Cayley. 1978

Aboriginal names of bird species in south-west Western Australia, with suggestions for their adoption into common usage. Ian Abbott. 2009. Conservation Science Western Australia Journal. Volume 7 No 2  http://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/about-us/science-and-research/76-publications-and-resources/103-conservation-science-wa-journal

Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/science/abbbs/abbbs-search.html