The gibberbird (''Ashbyia lovensis'') is a species of chat within the
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...
birds.
Taxonomy
This species, also formerly known as the desert chat, is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to Australia and the only species within the genus ''Ashbyia''.
[Pizzey, Graham; Doyle, Roy (1980) ''A Field Guide to the Birds of Australia''. Collins Publishers, Sydney. ] This genus was named after the South Australian ornithologist
Edwin Ashby
Edwin Ashby (2 November 1861 – 8 January 1941) was an Adelaide based Australian property developer and a noted malacologist interested in chitonsWinckworth R. (1942). "Obituary. Edwin Ashby, 1861-1941". ''Proceedings of the Malacological Society ...
.
/sup> The specific epithet ''lovensis'' honours the Irish missionary Reverend James Love (1889–1947). The gibberbird, along with the four chats of the genus ''Epithianura'', have sometimes been placed in a separate family, '' Epthianuridae'' (the Australian chats), but are now thought to be aberrant honeyeaters in the family ''Meliphagidae
The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Gu ...
''.[
The common name of gibberbird was given as a reflection of the gibber plains that make up the primary habitat for the species and unlike other chat species, the gibberbird is almost completely ]terrestrial
Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth.
Terrestrial may also refer to:
* Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...
, at ease on the ground level where it feeds, roosts and nests.
Description
The gibberbird has a distinctive visage which is characterized by a grey crown, yellow forehead, face and underbelly with a black to grey-brown rump. The bill is a dark brown to black with grey-brown feet. The iris of the eye is a distinguishing shade of bright yellow.sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...
s between the male and female. Females differ very slightly and can sometimes be distinguished by more brown plumage, especially around the throat, face and neck. They can also have a heavier breast band and a generally duller appearance in comparison to the males.
Distribution and habitat
The gibberbird is endemic to Australia and is known to inhabit the sparsely vegetated, stony regions of gibber desert. This habitat can include very open shrubland or grasslands. The extent of distribution for the gibberbird has been denoted as the southeastern Northern Territory, south-west Queensland to north-west New South Wales and across the northeastern region of South Australia.[ This species is more common on the sparsely vegetated, stony plains of the ]Lake Eyre basin
The Lake Eyre basin ( ) is a drainage basin that covers just under one-sixth of all Australia. It is the largest endorheic basin in Australia and amongst the largest in the world, covering about , including much of inland Queensland, large porti ...
and adjoining regions.sedentary
Sedentary lifestyle is a lifestyle type, in which one is physically inactive and does little or no physical movement and or exercise. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like soci ...
species with no records of migration
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
patterns; however, there have been some local movements outside of breeding season, presumably for resource attainment, especially in times of drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
or flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
.Astrebla
''Astrebla'' is a small genus of xerophytic (adapted to survive in an environment with little liquid water) grasses found only in Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the main ...
'' and '' Enneapogon''. It is also found in low chenopod shrubland, which is mainly dominated by plant species such as '' Sclerolaena'' and '' Atriplex'' on higher ground.[Wyndham, E. 1978. ''Emu'' 78: 179–87][Parker, S.A. 1980. ''S. Aust. Parks & Conserv.'' 3(1): 11–18] In the stony deserts of northern South Australia, gibberbirds can often be encountered in low, open shrubland or grassland of ''Atriplex vesicaria
''Atriplex vesicaria'', commonly known as bladder saltbush, is a species of flowering plant of the family ''Amaranthaceae'' and is endemic to arid and semi-arid inland regions of Australia. It is an upright or sprawling shrub with scaly leaves a ...
, Frankenia Serpyllifolia'' and ''Astrebla pectinata
''Astrebla pectinata'', commonly known as barley Mitchell grass, is a herb of the family Poaceae from the order Poales.
Morphology and habitat
''Astrebla pectinata'' grows to 1 m (3.25 ft). The flowers are pollinated
Pollination ...
''.[Brandle, R., & J.R.W. Reid. 1998. Pp 183–234 In: Brandle 1998.]
Behaviour
Diet
The gibberbird primarily feeds upon a range of invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s including spider
Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...
s, caterpillars, moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
s, cicada
The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into tw ...
s, grasshoppers, and other insects. Gibberbirds are indiscriminate, opportunistic foragers and have been known to feed on blowfly larvae dropped from fly-blown sheep. These are obtained by turning over clay clods with their bill to expose the sheltering maggot
A maggot is the larva of a fly (order Diptera); it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachycera flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and crane flies.
...
s. Smaller larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
...
e are consumed whole while larger larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
...
e are bashed on the ground several times before swallowing.insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...
s. The gibberbird has also been observed running swiftly over short distances while chasing low-flying insects.
Breeding
The gibberbird has no set breeding period with nesting behaviour being observed year round, with particularly high incidences occurring after the first rains of the season.nest
A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...
of the gibberbird is usually situated in a depression on bare ground or beside a clump of saltbush or grass.[ Eggs are a pale pink to light flesh colour with reddish spots clustered around the larger end of the egg.]altricial
In biology, altricial species are those in which the young are underdeveloped at the time of birth, but with the aid of their parents mature after birth. Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the mome ...
, blind and naked upon hatching.
Voice
There is little information on the call of the gibberbird and further studies will need to be conducted to fill the gaps in our knowledge of this species . However, from current studies it is known that the gibberbird has a sweet song that is thought to be utilised to call to a mate. This song has been described as "musical chatter" and to hear it is a squeaky "weet-weet-weet".
Conservation status
The gibberbird is classed as Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
on the IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...
.[.]
It is possible that the gibberbird is one of the few species that has actually benefited from the introduction of stock, both through the modifications of its habitat and the increased availability of insect larvae during the winter season.[Schrader, N.W. 1976. ''Aust. Bird Watcher''. 6: 179]
References
External links
Photos and video of gibberbird
from Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...
's Macaulay Library
Image at ADW
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1065139
Ashbyia
Birds of Queensland
Birds of South Australia
Endemic birds of Australia
Birds described in 1911
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot