Star Finch
Emblema ruficauda
Bright green finch with brilliant red face and bill and numerous small pale spots on face, chest, flanks, and base of tail. Compare longer-tailed female Crimson Finch, which is much browner and less heavily spotted. Often found in very large flocks in grasslands and reedbeds of northeastern Western Australia and northwestern Northern Territory; rarer in Darwin/Kakadu region.
Identification
The star finch is an estrildid finch, between 10 and 12 cm in length, with crimson fore-parts of the head and a scarlet bill. The upper and lower plumage is yellow-green, white spotted on the underparts, the belly more yellow. The upper tail coverts are scarlet, tail feathers are brownish scarlet. The female has less crimson on the head, and generally duller than the male, the immature star finch is olive to brownish with a grey face and head.<p>The broad white spots under its chin and down its flanks give rise to its common name. It has a wingspan of between 49 and 56 mm, a bill length between 11 and 13 mm, and weighs between 10 and 12 grams.
Taxonomy
Synonyms for the scientific name Bathilda ruficauda include Poephila ruficauda and Neochmia ruficauda.<p>The species is also referred to as red-faced firetail, red-tailed finch, or ruficauda finch. The common name, red-tailed finch, was first used by Gould (1884) and was in near universal use from Hall (1899) until 1926 when the term star finch appeared in the Royal Australasian Ornithological Union's (RAOU) second Official Checklist with no explanation for the change.<p>Hombron and Jacquinot first encountered these birds when they stopped off in Australia as part the French expedition to Antarctica of 1837–1840, traveling aboard the Astrolabe. While Hombron initially placed the bird in the genus Erythura, he indicated that the short legs of the bird could necessitate a new genus, Neochimia. Gray adopted the name in 1849. Derived from the Greek, neokhmos meaning new it signifies "new bird".<p>Gould's species name, ruficauda, is from the Latin rufus meaning red and cauda meaning tail.<p>Three subspecies have been described:
- Scientific name
- Emblema ruficauda
- Authority
- (Gould, 1837)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Estrildidae
- Genus
- Emblema
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
These finches inhabit low, dense, damp grasslands and sedgelands bordering estuarine areas, watercourses, swamps and other freshwater-bodies. They are also found in grassy, open savanna type sclerophyll woodland and occasionally in towns. Flocks can number between 10 and 30 but can build to hundreds. They are granivorous, foraging in vegetation just above the ground and they often feed on the ground, particularly in the dry season. They nest in a globe of grass lined with feathers producing 3 to 7 white eggs.<p>The star finch's habitat is threatened by overgrazing of grasslands, removing essential cover for their survival as well as sources of food and water. Selective grazing of perennials during the wet season may also remove grasses that are needed for survival during the dry season. Burning of grassland during the dry season may reduce the fallen seed during the wet season and thus reduce the food supply needed by the star finch. This species is also threatened by the cage-bird trade.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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