White-browed Scrubwrens in one form or another are one of the most widespread and common small birds in eastern and southern Australia. In the 1926 RAOU Checklist they were separated into several different species but these days the only one of these still recognised is the Brown (or Tasmanian) Scrubwren although this arrangement is still contested in some quarters. The most distinctive of these forms (or subspecies) is the Spotted Scrubwren which occurs in coastal southern Australia from near Adelaide across to Western Australia.(see under Spotted Scrubwren).

White-browed Scrubwrens spend much of their lives on or near the ground feeding amongst the litter and low down, dense shubbery. Once adult, they live mainly as pairs in permanent territories, but family groups do occur which can include progeny from previous nestings. They are fairly shy, keeping under cover but their constant tzzt tzzt contact calls always reveal their presence. However, when necessary they can overcome their shyness, as when I photographed the birds in pics 488213-216 at a cold high-country national park carpark where they went from car to car scavenging the impaled insects from the radiators of parked cars.