Pardalotus quadragintus - Peter Murrell Reserve

The forty-spotted pardalote (''Pardalotus quadragintus'') is one of Australia's rarest birds and by far the rarest

pardalote Pardalotes or peep-wrens are a family, Pardalotidae, of very small, brightly coloured birds native to Australia, with short tails, strong legs, and stubby blunt beaks. This family is composed of four species in one genus, ''Pardalotus'', and seve ...

, being confined to a few colonies in the south-east corner of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, mainly on

Maria Island Maria Island or 'wukaluwikiwayna' in alawa kani) is a mountainous island located in the Tasman Sea">island.html" ;"title="alawa kani) is a mountainous island">alawa kani) is a mountainous island located in the Tasman Sea, off the east coast of ...

and

Bruny Island Bruny Island ( Nuenonne: Lunawanna-alonnah) is a island located off the south-eastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island is separated from the Tasmanian mainland by the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, and its east coast lies within the Tasman S ...

Description

A small, energetic

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 t ...

about long, the forty-spot is similar to the much commoner

spotted pardalote The spotted pardalote (''Pardalotus punctatus'') is one of the smallest of all Australian birds at in length, and one of the most colourful; it is sometimes known as the diamondbird. Although moderately common in all of the reasonably fertile pa ...

(''Pardalotus punctatus''), but has a dull greenish-brown back and head, compared to the more colourful plumage of the former, with which it shares its range, and there is no brow line. The rump is olive, the under-tail dull yellow. The chest is white with light yellow tints. The wings are black with white tips, appearing as many (closer to 60 than 40) discrete dots when the wings are folded. There is no seasonal variation in plumage; juveniles are slightly less colourful than the adults.

Distribution and habitat

The forty-spotted pardalote is found reliably only in a few isolated colonies on south-eastern Tasmania, most notably on

and

. These two islands contain 99% of the species' population; there are a few colonies scattered across mainland Tasmania, and there may be a few left on

Flinders Island Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Flinders Island was the place where the last remnants of aboriginal Tasmanian population were exiled by the colon ...

. In 2009 there were 450 individuals on Bruny Island and 974 on Maria Island. A 2009 survey counted 1,486 birds at 54 of the 102 colonies surveyed; this compares with 3,840 individuals counted in 121 colonies in 1991 to 1997 – a loss of 47% of colonies. The birds are found almost exclusively in dry eucalypt forests with high concentration of the ''

Eucalyptus viminalis ''Eucalyptus viminalis'', commonly known as the manna gum, white gum or ribbon gum, is a species of small to very tall tree that is Endemism, endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has smooth bark, sometimes with rough bark near the base, lance-s ...

'' (white gum), where it forages almost exclusively. This species provides around 80% of the

nestling Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight s ...

s' diet.

Conservation

In the 17 years prior to 2010/2011, there had been a decrease of up to 60% in overall population. It is listed by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

, because of its very small range, its highly fragmented distribution and its very small breeding area. Threats include land clearing for sheep farming, low rainfall linked to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

;

bushfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

s; competitors such as

Noisy miner The noisy miner (''Manorina melanocephala'') is a bird in the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae, and is endemic to eastern and southeastern Australia. This miner is a grey bird, with a black head, orange-yellow beak and feet, a distinctive yellow ...

s and striated pardalotes; predators such as the (introduced)

laughing kookaburra The laughing kookaburra (''Dacelo novaeguineae'') is a bird in the kingfisher subfamily Halcyoninae. It is a large robust kingfisher with a whitish head and a brown eye-stripe. The upperparts are mostly dark brown but there is a mottled light ...

s; and the native parasitic fly '' Passeromyia longicornis''.

Behaviour

Forty-spots form pairs and are territorial during the breeding season, but may form small flocks during the winter. They are insect hunters and forage methodically for small insects in the canopy. They nest in

tree hollow A tree hollow or tree hole is a semi-enclosed cavity which has naturally formed in the trunk or branch of a tree. They are found mainly in old trees, whether living or not. Hollows form in many species of trees, and are a prominent feature of nat ...

s and occasionally in ground burrows.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q939963

forty-spotted pardalote The forty-spotted pardalote (''Pardalotus quadragintus'') is one of Australia's rarest birds and by far the rarest pardalote, being confined to a few colonies in the south-east corner of Tasmania, mainly on Maria Island and Bruny Island. Desc ...

Endemic birds of Tasmania Endangered fauna of Australia