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Beautiful Firetail
(Stagonopleura bella)
: "Firetail Finch", "Beautiful Firetail Finch"
Size: 11-13 cm
Weight: 12-16 g
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Similar species |
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Physical description |
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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.
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Taxonomy, classification |
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See Beautiful
Firetail at Wikipedia .
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Range, habitat, finding this species |
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Click here for information on habitat
and range
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed based
on sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to
ebird.org
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The global distribution of the Beautiful Firetail is available
HERE
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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.
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Sightings |
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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.
Race "samueli"
J. Greaves reports spotting a Beautiful Firetail, race "samueli", at Cape Borda,
Kangaroo Island, SA, in March 2016
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Photos |
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Race "bella"
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ADULT |
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Frontal view of a Beautiful Firetail hiding in dense growth
(photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Royal NP,
NSW, May 2013]
Lateral view of a Beautiful Firetail on the ground
(photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Bruny Island, TAS, March 2016]
Near-dorsal view of a Beautiful Firetail on the ground
(photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Bruny Island, TAS, March 2016]
Dorsal view of a Beautiful Firetail on the ground
(photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Bruny Island, TAS, March 2016]
Race "samueli"
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ADULT |
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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]
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Food, Diet |
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Adults: Seeds |
Dependents: Regurgitated seeds |
Water intake: Daily |
Like all other finches known to us, Beautiful Firetails feed on seeds.
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Call(s)/Song |
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For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The
interpretation of their meaning is our own; are welcome.
More Beautiful Firetail sound recordings are available at
xeno-canto.org
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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.