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Dissection of a disused Striated Pardalote nestAlternate name(s): "Striated Diamond-bird", "Pickwick", "Wittachew", "Chip-chip"; race "striatus": "Yellow-tipped Pardalote"; races "ornatus", "substriatus", "uropygialis": "Red-tipped Pardalote"; race "melanocephalus": "Black-headed Pardalote"  Aboriginal name(s): Race
"substriatus":
"bilyabit"*,
"widopwidop"* (WA)Size: 9.5-11.5 cm Weight: 11 g (average) |
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Pardalote main page 
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Striated Pardalotes have a strong preference for nests with a long entrance tunnel, be it a hollow branch, a bottle-shaped mud nest built by another species, a tunnel they dig into a steep bank, a drain pipe or similar. In the case described here, they decided to build a tunnel by digging into a side wall of a shallow trench that had been left open for a while.
View from above showing how a spade was used to excavate a Striated
Pardalote nest tunnel after the birds were finished and work on the
ditch was resumed (photo courtesy of L. Tonnochy)
[Near Townsville, QLD, September 2016]
View of the Striated Pardalote nest at the end of the tunnel
(photo courtesy of L. Tonnochy)
[Near Townsville, QLD, September 2016]
Striated Pardalote nest after removal from the nest
chamber at the end of the tunnel - note that is was
not domed (photo courtesy of L. Tonnochy)
[Near Townsville, QLD, September 2016]
Overview of the excavation area of a Striated Pardalote nest,
giving an impression of the length of the tunnel and of the
shallowness of the trench (photo courtesy of L. Tonnochy)
[Near Townsville, QLD, September 2016]
Close-up view of the Striated Pardalote nest, with a
smart phone for comparison (photo courtesy of L. Tonnochy)
[Near Townsville, QLD, September 2016]
