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 and fairly thick, red bill, crimson rump, pink-cream legs and feet, short and rounded wings, short and square-tipped tail. Juveniles are duller than the adults with a smaller eye patch and a blackish bill.
Distribution
South-eastern Australia and Tasmania.
Taxonomy
There are 3 subspecies
- S. b. bella
- S. b. interposita
- S. b. samueli
Habitat
Swampy grass, coastal belts of dry forest, shrubby heath, tea-tree scrub, never far from water.
Behaviour
The diet includes grass seeds and the seeds of the casuarinas and tea tree.
Both sexes build the nest which is shaped like a bottle on its side with a long tunnel leading to a round egg chamber, found in dense foliage near the ground, made of thin grass stems and lined with feathers. 4-8 eggs are laid and are incubated by both sexes for 20 days. The young fledge 20 days later.
References
Birds in Backyards
