Red-browed Pardalote

Pardalotus rubricatus

Tiny colorful bird of inland and northern parts of Australia. Mousy gray brown above, creamy below, with white-speckled black crown, yellowish brow, red spot above the stubby bill, and pale eye. Note prominent yellow wing panel, unique among pardalote species. Compare Striated Pardalote, which has a streaked crown, no yellow wing panel, and a yellow spot behind the eye. Call is a low note followed by five quick higher-pitched whistles "yoouuuu-did-did-did-did-did."

Identification

Adult red–browed pardalotes are a large pardalote with an average length of 105 mm and wingspan of 60–66 mm. Males weigh approximately 10.9g and females weigh 10.8 g. The average length of the male tarsus is 18.3 mm and female tarsus is 18.5 mm (Higgins & Peter 2002). The subspecies yorki are smaller in size, 100–120 mm long and weigh less at 9.3 g. The average length of the male tarsus is 17.4 mm and female tarsus is 17.3 mm (Higgins & Peter 2002), (Simpson, Day & Trusler 1999). Their wingspan is 58–62 mm in length (Schodde & Mason 1999).The red–browed pardalote does not exhibit plumage that changes seasonally and is not sexually dichromatic (Higgins & Peter 2002). The nominate race rubricatus have a pale iris, a black crown with distinctive white spots and a yellow to buff supercilium. They have a red to orange-red brow and a yellow breast patch with yellow wing panels (Higgins & Peter 2002), (Simpson, Day & Trusler 1999). Juvenile birds are generally paler in comparison to adults (Simpson, Day & Trusler 1999). They have a darker iris that is olive to pale olive, a duller crown with less obvious patterning and a dull orange-yellow brow (Higgins & Peter 2002).The sub-species yorki are generally more brightly coloured than the nominate race (Simpson, Day & Trusler 1999). They have an iris that is straw-brown or yellow, a black crown with fine spots; fine dark scalloping across their mantel and hind neck. They have a bright yellow breast patch, yellow rump and an orange wing panel (Higgins & Peter 2002), (Schodde & Mason 1999). Plumage of the juvenile yorki subspecies has not been described (Higgins & Peter 2002).The call of the red-browed pardalote is a distinctive five or six note song, with the first note longer and lower pitched than the remaining notes which increase in pitch and speed (Higgins & Peter 2002), (Simpson, Day & Trusler 1999). Males call periodically between feeding to announce their territory from a sheltered perch within the trees canopy (Schodde & Tidemann 1986). It has been described as sounding similar to the call of a rosella species (Higgins & Peter 2002).

Taxonomy

Red-browed pardalotes belong to the order Passeriformes and family Pardalotidae of which four species are recognised: red-browed pardalote Pardalotus rubricatus, spotted pardalote Pardalotus punctatus, forty-spotted pardalote Pardalotus quadragintus and striated pardalote Pardalotus striatus. Historically, the family Pardalotidae included pardalotes and acanthizid warblers; gerygones, scrubwrens and thornbills (Christidis & Boles 2008). However, recent phylogenetic and morphological studies (Driskell & Christidis 2004), (Schodde & Mason 1999) indicate that pardalotes are more closely related to honeyeaters than acanthizid warblers, which resulted in the separation of this group into two families, Pardalotidae and Acanthizidae (Christidis & Boles 2008). The pardalote, acanthizid warbler, honeyeater and bristlebird family, form a monophyletic group (Christidis & Boles 2008).Matthews described the subspecies Pardalotus yorki in 1913 (Higgins & Peter 2002). Their range begins at the base of the Gulf of Carpentaria and extends north along the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland (Schodde & Mason 1999). Difference in morphology and plumage distinguish this subspecies from the nominate race (Higgins & Peter 2002).

Scientific name: Pardalotus rubricatus
Authority: Gould, 1838
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Pardalotidae
Genus: Pardalotus

Range and habitat

The red-browed pardalote is a widely distributed species ranging from north and central Australia, south and south central Western Australia, northeast South Australia ( Lake Eyre Basin) to south west New South Wales. They may also be found throughout the Great Sandy, Gibson and Great Victoria Desert (Higgins & Peter 2002). They live in a wide range of habitats including woodlands, shrublands, tropical, arid and semi-arid regions of Australia (Higgins & Peter 2002). Eucalypt woodlands, which border watercourses such as riparian river red gum, coolibah woodlands and tall eucalypt shrublands such as mallee, are the preferred habitats (Costello 1981), (Higgins & Peter 2002), (Hornsby 1996), (Pedler & Ragless 1978).In the desert sand-ridge country of Western Australia, red-browed pardalotes forage in the upper story of bloodwoods and marble gums dispersed amongst sand dunes (Pianka & Pianka 1970). They have also been recorded in bloodwood-banksia, low–acacia and eucalypt–paperbark woodlands, mulga, acacia shrublands, spinifex plains and grasslands (Badman 1979), (Cody 1991), (Higgins & Peter 2002), (Rix 1970). Red-browed pardalotes may also inhabit sand dunes, rocky outcrops, valleys and floodplains (Higgins & Peter 2002).

Migration: Resident species

Behavior

Migration pattern: Resident species.

Conservation

Population trend: stable.

Population trend: stable

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

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