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General Information
 Description:
Birds of the Pardalote family are brightly coloured and native to Australia.
They have short tails, strong legs, and stubby blunt beaks and feed on the
treetops. There are four species of Pardalotes in Australia. The Pardalote at our school has a black crown, wings and
tails potted with white, a yellow to red back and rump and yellow
under the tail. It grows in length to only 11 cm. The Pardalote we have identified is probably a
Striated Pardalote which is the most common of the four
species and has five different types of
birds in its family
-
the Yellow-tipped
(race striatus) which is found mainly in Tasmania but from time to
time crosses the 200 miles of
Bass Strait to
the mainland; the Striated, (race substriatus), central and western Australia;
the Eastern Striated, (race ornatus), from the sub-tropical east coast; and
two races of the Black-headed, (melanocephalus and uropygialis), from
North-Eastern New Soputh Wales
to North-Eastern Queensland, and across the
top of Australia to the
Kimberley. All five forms have a black cap which may be striated but
never spotted, a white wing stripe and a small, conspicuous wing spot — bright
red in all except striatus, which has a yellow spot.
Voice: The
Pardalote makes a sharp "tchip tchip" call which is often the only time you
know one is near.
Habitat:
Pardalotes live in open forests and woodland areas and also in urban areas
where there are trees. They are found all over Australia as mentioned above.
Food:
Pardalotes spend most of their time high in the outer foliage of trees,
feeding on insects, spiders, and above all
lerps (a type of sap sucking insect). Their role in controlling lerp
infestations in the
forests of Australia may be significant. They also feed on insect
larvae, which are usually captured by picking them from the surfaces of
leaves. The Pardalotes feed in small groups and they keep in contact with
soft trills.
Breeding: We
see this bird at our school where it nests in the banks of our oval. We will
have to protect the nest sites of this bird at our school. They generally live in pairs or small family groups but sometimes come
together into flocks after breeding. Striated Pardalotes lay three
to five white eggs and both sexes incubate and care for the young birds.
Other members of the group may also help with the feeding of the young. All four species of Pardalotes nest in deep horizontal tunnels drilled into banks
of earth. The holes outside are about the size of a mouse-hole but
inside can be very
deep up to a metre or more. The nest is constructed close to the ground,
and some species nest in a tree hollow. Small openings in human-made objects
are also frequently used. Pardalotes breed between June and January
when the birds form pairs or small groups of up to six birds The birds
display regularly at the entrance to the nesting chamber, and guard
the vicinity vigorously against other Pardalotes.
Reference:
Some information - Wikipedia, Australian Museum Fact Sheet, various sites.
Photo - © G. Little Nature Focus
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