Alternative name: Eastern Bluebonnet
- Northiella haematogaster
Identification
27-35 cm (10½-13¾ in)
- Grey-brown
- Blue face and throat
- Yellow, red and blue wings (varies according to race)
Variations
Males vary among subspecies in some having yellow belly, others having more red; pallescens is generally a pale form.
Females of all subspecies are duller than the corresponding males. Flight feathers are blue, outer tail feather blue and white.
Photo © by Mike Bouette
South if Broken Hill, New South Wales, September 2016
Distribution
Only south of the tropic of capricorn in Australia: found in New South Wales, Queensland , South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.
Taxonomy
Naretha Bluebonnet was formerly considered conspecific with this species.
Subspecies
Three subspecies are recognized[1]:
- N. h. haematogaster:
- Western and southern New South Wales, north-western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia
- N. h. pallescens:
- Inland South Australia
- N. h. haematorrhoa:
- Eastern Australia (interior southern Queensland and northern New South Wales)
Habitat
Open woodland, not always near water.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes insects and larvae, also grass, shrub and tree seeds, herbaceous plants, nuts, berries, fruit and vegetable matter.
Breeding
They nest in hollow limbs or trunks. The clutch consists of 4-7 white eggs.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2015. IOC World Bird Names (version 5.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- ozanimals
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Greater Bluebonnet. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Greater_Bluebonnet
