Spotted Pardalote

Fascinating facts about the Spotted Pardalote

• Spotted pardalotes dig a hidden underground nest: a horizontal oval chamber lined with shredded bark, linked by a tunnel 0.5 to 1.5 metres (1 ft 8 in to 4 ft 11 in) long to a shaded riverbank opening. Inside, they lay 3-4 glossy white eggs that measure 16 mm long by 13 mm wide. After 19 days of incubation the chicks emerge, then stay tucked in the burrow for another 21 days before fledging.
• Three subspecies of spotted pardalote occupy distinct Australian habitats: the nominate form spreads across eastern and southern mainland and Tasmania; the wet-tropics subspecies militaris lives in coastal central-northern Queensland; and the yellow-rumped subspecies xanthopyge prefers the drier inland Mallee woodlands of southern Australia. This geographic split shows how the same species can adapt its plumage and bill size to very different environments, from rain-soaked forests to semi-arid scrub.
• At just 8 to 10 centimetres long and weighing around 6 grams, the spotted pardalote is among the tiniest Australian birds, yet it thrives from sea level up to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft).
• Breeding starts as early as August in the north and can stretch to January in the south, with pairs usually nesting once per year.
• Their contact call is a rapid two-part exchange: an initial soft whistling wheet-wheet followed almost instantly by a response, often sounding like two birds talking from opposite directions.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Spotted Pardalote

A tiny, jewel-marked bird of Australian eucalypt forest, spotted white on black above with a rust-red rump and a yellow throat. It feeds high in the canopy on lerp, and nests in a burrow it digs itself into an earth bank, which is an odd habit for a bird that otherwise almost never comes down. Heard far more often than seen.

Spotted Pardalote photographed on Feravox

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