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Beautiful Firetail (Stagonopleura bella) Alternate name(s): "Firetail Finch", "Beautiful Firetail Finch" Size: 11-13 cm Body mass: 12-16 g

Australia: Family Group 24 Family Group 24 Table Horsfield's Bushlark Australian Pipit Eastern Yellow Wagtail Citrine Wagtail Grey Wagtail White Wagtail Zebra Finch Double-barred Finch Long-tailed Finch Black-throated Finch Masked Finch Crimson Finch Plum-headed Finch Pictorella Mannikin Chestnut-breasted Mannikin Yellow-rumped Mannikin Blue-faced Parrot-Finch Diamond Firetail Beautiful Firetail Red-eared Firetail Painted Finch Star Finch Red-browed Finch Gouldian Finch Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds Australi home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Beautiful Firetails are small to medium-sized finches. They have a small black facial mask around lores and eyes, with prominent pale-blue eye-rings. The rest of the head and front, except for the black undertail coverts and a central black stripe, is neatly barred dark-grey on lighter-grey. The back, including the wings, is more brownish-grey and only inconspicuously barred darker-grey. The rump and uppertail coverts are crimson. Breeding males have the darkest belly and undertail coverts. The eyes of both sexes have black irises. The bill is red; the legs and feet are grey. Juveniles have only indistinct barring and a dark bill.

Taxonomy, classification See Beautiful Firetail at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Beautiful Firetail is available HERE . There are three races of Beautiful Firetails, all of which are endemic to Australia. Next to all of Tasmania and Flinders Island in Bass Strait, nominate race "bella" populates a narrow fringe along the South-East and South coast of Australia, from the Hunter River in NSW in the North, down into VIC to the longitude of Cape Otway, VIC. Farther West, near Cape Otway, and in a small coastal area both sides of the VIC/SA border (from about Portland Bay, VIC, to Rope, SA), race "interposita" resides. Race "samueli" occurs only in SA, in the Mount Lofty Range East of Adelaide, from about Kaiserstuhl NR, SA, to the South-East, across Backstairs Passage and onto Kangaroo Island, SA. Beautiful Firetails have a preference for dry forest and heath, especially casuarinas and other thickets.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "bella" B. Hensen reports spotting Beautiful Firetails, race "bella", at Royal NP, NSW, in May 2013 and on Bruny Island, TAS, in March 2016. Two pairs of Beautiful Firetails, race "bella", were first spotted by us at Wottamolla, Royal NP, NSW, in June 2015. B. Hensen's help with these observations is gratefully acknowledged. M. Eaton found Beautiful Firetails, race "bella", at Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, in September 2021. Race "samueli" J. Greaves reports spotting a Beautiful Firetail, race "samueli", at Cape Borda, Kangaroo Island, SA, in March 2016 M. Eaton found Beautiful Firetails, race "samueli", at Salt Creek, Coorong, SA, in April 2022.

Photos

Race "bella"

ADULT

PAIR

Near-/frontal view of two Beautiful Firetails
Many bird species exhibit sexual dimorphism, i.e., male and female have differing appearances which can be quite subtle.
Male Beautiful Firetails, left, have a black belly patch that is absent or much fainter in females. Also note that the upperparts of the male are grey, while those of the female are brown.
(photos courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

MALE

Frontal view of a male Beautiful Firetail (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Frontal view of a male Beautiful Firetail looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

FEMALE

Near-frontal view of a female Beautiful Firetail (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Close-up near-lateral view of a female Beautiful Firetail (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Close-up lateral view of a female Beautiful Firetail (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Sex unknown

Near-dorsal view of a Beautiful Firetail (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Dorsal view of a Beautiful Firetail (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Bruny Island, TAS, March 2016]

Race "samueli"

ADULT

FEMALE

Frontal view of a Beautiful Firetail looking sideways; the absence of a black belly patch and the brown suffusion of the head suggest that this may be a female (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Cape Borda, Kangaroo Island, SA, March 2016]

Frontal view of a female(?) Beautiful Firetail looking sideways (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Cape Borda, Kangaroo Island, SA, March 2016]

Near-frontal view of a female(?) Beautiful Firetail (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Salt Creek, Coorong, SA, April 2022]

Lateral view of a female(?) Beautiful Firetail (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Cape Borda, Kangaroo Island, SA, March 2016]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Sedentary

Elementary unit: Pair/mob

Food, Diet

Adults: Seeds

Dependents: Regurgitated seeds

Water intake: Daily

Like all other finches known to us, Beautiful Firetails feed on seeds.

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

beautyf_20150611.mp3

bella (Royal NP, NSW)

?

© MD

More Beautiful Firetail sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.