Alternative names: Firetail Finch and Tasmanian Finch.
- Stagonopleura bella
Identification
11cm.
- Olive-brown body
- White breast with dark fine barring
- Black mask
- Pale blue eye ring
- Thickish red bill
- Crimson rump
- Pink-cream legs and feet
- Short, rounded wings
- Short, square-tipped tail
Juveniles are duller than the adults with a smaller eye patch and a blackish bill.
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Distribution
South-eastern Australia and Tasmania.
Taxonomy
Subspecies[1]
There are 3 subspecies:
- S. b. bella:
- South-eastern Australia (Hunter River, New South Wales to southern Victoria and Tasmania)
- S. b. interposita:
- South-eastern South Australia and adjacent south-western Victoria
- S. b. samueli:
- South Australia (Kangaroo Island and Mount Lofty Range)
Habitat
Swampy grass, coastal belts of dry forest, shrubby heath, Buttongrass heathland, tea-tree scrub; never far from water.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes grass seeds and the seeds of the casuarinas and tea tree.
Breeding
Both sexes build the nest which is shaped like a bottle on its side with a long tunnel leading to a round egg chamber. The nest is placed in dense foliage near the ground and is made of thin grass stems, lined with feathers. The 4-8 eggs are incubated for 20 days by both adults. The young fledge 20 days later.
References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Birds in Backyards
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Beautiful Firetail. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 10 October 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Beautiful_Firetail
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
