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South Island Robin - BirdForum Opus

(Redirected from Petroica australis australis)
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P. a. australis
Photo © by Layzeboy
Motuara Island Bird Sanctuary, South Island, New Zealand, 25 February 2006
Petroica australis

Identification

P. a. australis
Photo © by Ornitho26
Cascade Creek, Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand, 1 December 2005

18 cm (7 ins) 35 gm (1.13 ozs)

  • Sooty grey head, neck and upperparts
  • Faint pale grey wingbar
  • Sooty grey tail with brownish tinge
  • Slate-black chin and upper breast
  • White lower breast and belly and undertail-coverts
  • rakiura with more white on underparts

Females are similar to males, but upperparts, throat and flanks slightly paler.

Distribution

An uncommon endemic found on South Island, New Zealand

Taxonomy

Two subspecies recognized[1][2][3]:

  • P. a. australis on South Island
  • P. a. rakiura on Stewart Island

Formerly considered conspecific with North Island Robin under the name New Zealand Robin.

P. a. rakiura
Photo © by Joseph Morlan
Rakiura NP-Ulva Island, New Zealand, 2 January 2017

Habitat

Native and exotic forest

Behaviour

Long legs and an upright stance, inquisitive - almost appears tame

Perches on low branches and flies down to the forest floor - hops

Diet

Diet includes insects.

Breeding

Breeding : July-Jan

Vocalisation

Male has a loud clear song with regional differences - a string of phrases, including pwee-pwee-pwee, usually descending.Call is a soft chirp.

Recorded by Andrew Whitehouse

In Culture

Maori name: Toutouwai

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Gill, F & D Donsker (Eds). 2018. IOC World Bird List (v8.2). doi : 10.14344/IOC.ML.8.2. Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
  3. Christidis et al. 2018. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, version 4.1 (Downloadable checklist). Accessed from https://www.howardandmoore.org.
  4. Miller, Hilary C.; Lambert, David M. (2006). "A molecular phylogeny of New Zealand's Petroica (Aves: Petroicidae) species based on mitochondrial DNA sequences". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 40 (3): 844–855. https://doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.04.012.
  5. Higgins , P.J .; & Peter, J.M. (editors) 2002 . Handbook of Australian , New Zealand & Antarctic Birds. Volume 6 , Pardalotes to shrike-thrushes. Melbourne, Oxford University Press. [Vol. 5, pages 51-55] Vol. 6, pages 575-577 , 706-725; plate 18.
  6. Jobling, J. A. (2017). Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology. In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.) (2017). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com).
  7. Powlesland, R.G. 2013. South Island robin. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz

Recommended Citation

External Links

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