Pink Robin
Petroica rodinogaster
Small, plump Australian robin. Male very dark gray above and on throat, with lovely pink breast and belly. Tail completely dark, unlike Rose Robin. Female brown above, paler below, sometimes tinged pinkish. Breeds in very wet dense rainforest gullies in Tasmania and Victoria, sometimes in other more open habitats in winter.
Identification
The pink robin is 13.5 cm (5.5 in) long and displays sexual dimorphism – the males and females have plumage which differ markedly. The male has a dark blackish-grey head, throat, back, wings and tail, a pink breast and belly fading to white on the lower abdomen, and a white forehead. The female is dark grey-brown above, with two buff-coloured wing-bars and pinkish-tinged underparts. The bill and feet are black, and the eyes are dark brown.
Taxonomy
Described by Belgian naturalist Auguste Drapiez in 1819, the pink robin is a member of the Australasian robin family Petroicidae. Sibley and Ahlquist's DNA-DNA hybridisation studies placed this group in a Corvida parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines, including pardalotes, fairy-wrens, honeyeaters, and crows. However, subsequent molecular research (and current consensus) places the robins as a very early offshoot of the Passerida (or "advanced" songbirds) within the songbird lineage. Testing of the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of Australian members of the genus Petroica suggests that the pink and rose robins are each other's closest relative within the genus.<p>The generic name Petroica derives from the Ancient Greek petros 'stone' and oikos 'house'. The specific name rodinogaster derives from the Ancient Greek rhodinos 'pink' and gaster 'belly'.
- Scientific name
- Petroica rodinogaster
- Authority
- (Drapiez, 1819)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Petroicidae
- Genus
- Petroica
Range and habitat
Its range is the forests of southern Victoria and neighbouring parts of South Australia and New South Wales, and Tasmania.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Rallus semiplumbeus
Medium-sized rail restricted to high-elevation marshes in the Andes of Colombia. Unlikely to be confused in small range. Gray below and brown above with bright red bill and legs. Sexes similar. Like most rails, often remains hidden among marshy grasses, but not overly shy. Sometimes walks at the edge of a lake or marsh in plain sight.
Flores Heleia
Heleia crassirostris
A gray-and-white songbird with a diagnostic head pattern. Dark olive above and clean white below, with dark cheeks that contrast with the conspicuous pale eye and a white forehead bleeding into dark speckles on the crown. Juveniles show a plain buff forehead and crown. Found singly or in pairs in understory of forest and forest edge in lowlands and foothills, frequenting mixed-species flocks. Confined to the Lesser Sundas. Calls include soft “chup” and weak “pew” notes. Striking, melodious warbling song is punctuated with repeated clear trills and staccato “wit-wit-wit” phrases.
Water Rail
Rallus aquaticus
Shy but generally not uncommon, this reclusive marsh bird is more often heard than seen; listen for its varied piglike squeals and grunts coming from dense vegetation. Favors fresh marshes and ponds with taller vegetation, especially reeds and rushes; in winter and freezing weather, sometimes in tidal marshes. Most often seen at muddy edges, walking stealthily; can move very quickly. About half the size of a moorhen. Note long, mostly red bill (unlike short, chickenlike bill of crakes), and barred flanks. Replaced in much of Asia by the Brown-cheeked Rail, with which it has minor overlap; very similar, but lacks the strong eye stripe of that species, has a darker throat and grayer breast and belly.
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