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24

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

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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

Photos

Race "bella"

ADULT

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]

PAIR

Field guides describe that in the field the sexes of Beautiful Firetails are very difficult to tell apart. The only reliable distinguishing criterium is that males tend to have a larger black belly/vent/undertail patch than females. Some sources also state that males have a larger red rump patch than females (which we have not been able to confirm yet). The photos below show two individuals at almost identical angles.

Near-/frontal view of two Beautiful Firetails; male on the left - note the black belly patch, which is absent in the female on the right (photos courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

The bird on the left above is greyish, while the one on the right has a more brownish head and back. This may be an effect of age or wear of the plumage, rather than a difference distinguishing the sexes.

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

Sex unknown

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

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

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

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.

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Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us:          Last updated: Thu, 30 September 2021, 2:56 +00:00