All thornbills are small birds, and the Yellow Thornbill is one of the smallest — it was once known as the ‘Little Thornbill’. They occur throughout open forests, woodlands and shrublands in eastern and south-eastern Australia, usually where the dominant plants are not eucalypts. They almost always occur in trees, gleaning small insects and other invertebrates among the leaves, twigs and small branches. They also build their domed nests in the leafy twigs or foliage of trees or shrubs, where they are often parasitised by bronze-cuckoos.
