Flame robin - WikiHQ

thumb|Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania

The flame robin (Petroica phoenicea) is a small passerine bird native to Australia. It is a moderately common resident of the coolest parts of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Like the other two red-breasted Petroica robins—the scarlet robin and the red-capped robin—it is often simply called the robin redbreast. Like many brightly coloured robins of the Petroicidae, it is sexually dimorphic. Measuring long, the flame robin has dark brown eyes and a small thin black bill. The male has a brilliant orange-red chest and throat, and a white patch on the forehead above the bill. Its upper parts are iron-grey with white bars, and its tail black with white tips. Female coloration is a muted grey-brown. Its song has been described as the most musical of its genus.

The position of the flame robin and its Australian relatives on the passerine family tree is unclear; the Petroicidae are not closely related to either the European or American robins, but appear to be an early offshoot of the Passerida group of songbirds. The flame robin is predominantly insectivorous, pouncing on prey from a perch in a tree, or foraging on the ground. A territorial bird, the flame robin employs song and plumage displays to mark out and defend its territory. It is classified by BirdLife International as least concern.

Taxonomy

The flame robin was first described by the French naturalists Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard in 1830 as Muscicapa chrysoptera. The specific epithet chrysoptera is derived from the Ancient Greek words 'golden', and 'feather'.

John Gould placed the flame robin in its current genus as Petroica phoenicea in his 1837 description, and it was this latter binomial name that has been used since that time. Given this, Quoy and Gaimard's name was declared a nomen oblitum. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek words , 'rock', and , 'home', from the birds' habit of sitting on rocks. The specific epithet is also derived from Ancient Greek, from the adjective 'crimson, dark red'. It is one of five red- or pink-breasted species colloquially known as "red robins", as distinct from the "yellow robins" of the genus Eopsaltria. Although named after the European robin, the flame robin is not closely related to either it or the American robin. and the whistler family Pachycephalidae, before being classified in their own family Petroicidae. Sibley and Ahlquist's DNA-DNA hybridisation studies placed the robins in a Corvida parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines, including pardalotes, fairy-wrens and honeyeaters, as well as crows. However, subsequent molecular research (and current consensus) places the robins as a very early offshoot of the Passerida, or "advanced" songbirds, within the songbird lineage.

No subspecies are recognised, and the degree of geographic variation is unclear. Adult male birds which breed on the mainland have been reported as having lighter upperparts and underparts than their Tasmanian relatives, and females are said to be browner, but these differences may also result from worn plumage. Furthermore, migration across the Bass Strait by some birds obfuscates the issue. Mainland and Tasmanian birds are the same size. Ornithologists Richard Schodde and Ian Mason argued that the poor quality of museum collections and partially migratory habits meant that discrete subspecies could not be distinguished on the basis of the observed variation within the species.

Flame-breasted robin was the common name formerly used for the species, and it was gradually abbreviated to flame robin. Other names recorded include bank robin, redhead, and (inaccurately) robin redbreast.

Description

thumb|right|The flame robin, Petroica phoenicea, 1931 by [[E. E. Gostelow]]

The largest of the red robins, the flame robin is long. It has a more slender build than other members of the genus Petroica, with relatively long wings and neck and small head. The rest of the upperparts, comprising the wings, back and tail, are dark grey. There is a small, white frontal spot above the bill, and the wing bar and outer tail shafts are white. The feathers of the posterior belly, flanks, and vent are white with grey-black bases. The female is plainly coloured—pale brown overall, and a lighter buff underneath. The lower belly, sides, and underside are a soft off-white colour. Similar to the male, feathers on the sides of the crown might have a subtle hint of dull orange, and this coloration could also extend to the feathers on the breast area. There are small, off-white marks on the wings and above the bill. The bill, legs, feet, and claws are black, and the eyes dark brown. A flame robin with an all lemon-yellow breast and otherwise female plumage was observed in a small flock of flame robins near Swansea, in eastern Tasmania, in September 1950.

Nestlings have dark grey or brown down, Females of the respective species are harder to tell apart. Those of red-capped, rose, and pink robins are all smaller, with wing lengths less than , smaller than the smallest flame robin. The female scarlet robin has a more pronounced red flush to the breast and the spot on the forehead above the bill is more prominent and white rather than off-white. Their song is more varied and complex than that of the scarlet robin, and has been described as the most musical of the red robins. A series of descending notes in groups of three, the musical song has been likened to the phrases, "you-may-come, if-you-will, to-the-sea" or "you-are-not a-pretty-little-bird like-me". Both males and females sing this song, often perched from a vantage point, such as a stump or fence. The female makes a hissing sound, if approached while on the nest,

Distribution and habitat

The flame robin is found in temperate regions of southeastern Australia and all over Tasmania, although it is less common in the southwest and west. In Victoria, it is more common in uplands than lower altitudes. It ranges from the Adelaide and Murray Plains around the mouth of the Murray River in southeastern South Australia, across Victoria, and into the South West Slopes and southern regions of New South Wales. Further north, it is found along the Great Dividing Range and its western slopes, with a few records from southeast Queensland. Within its range, it is generally migratory, moving from alpine and subalpine regions to lowlands in winter, although the breeding and non-breeding ranges overlap. There is some evidence that male birds migrate several days before the females. It is unclear what proportion of Tasmanian birds cross Bass Strait to winter in Victoria. Birds which remain in Tasmania move away from breeding areas, and are found in paddocks in loose flocks of up to fourteen birds. They have left these areas by August, and immature birds appear to disperse earlier. A field study in the outer Melbourne suburb of Langwarrin showed that climate did not influence peak abundance of flame robins there. The international organisation BirdLife International has regraded it from Least Concern to Near Threatened in 2004, due to its population decline over the previous 25 years. it has become rare in South Australia, and uncommon in the lowlands of Victoria.

Behaviour

thumb|Flame robin near Goat's Beach, Tasmania, Australia

The flame robin mostly breeds in and around the Great Dividing Range, the Tasmanian highlands, and islands in Bass Strait.

When perched or between bouts of foraging on the ground, the flame robin holds itself in a relatively upright pose, with its body angled at 45° or less from the vertical, and its wings held low below its tail. It impresses as nervous and twitchy, flicking its wings alternately when still. The flame robin's flight is fast, with a markedly undulating character. The flame robin deploys a number of agonistic displays, including a breast-puffing display where it puffs its breast feathers, and a white spot display where it puffs its feathers to accentuate its frontal white spot, white wing markings or white outer tail feathers. They may also fly at intruders or sing to defend their territory. A male flame robin either lands next to and moves a female off her perch, or flies in front of her. Courting males also run to and fro in front of a female, in a crouch with wings and head lowered, and hiding their breast feathers. In both displays, the male proceeds to chase the female. Pairs are generally monogamous, and remain together unless one bird perishes, although "divorces" have been recorded.

The breeding season is August to January with one or two broods raised.

The nest is a neat, deep cup made of soft dry grass, moss, and bark. Spider webs, feathers, and fur are used for binding/filling, generally in a tree fork or crevice, or cliff or riverbank ledge, typically within a few metres of the ground. The clutch generally numbers three or four dull white eggs, which are laid on consecutive days. They are tinted bluish, greyish or brownish, and splotched with dark grey-brown, and measure 18 mm x 14 mm. A field study in open eucalypt forest at Nimmitabel found that flame robins and scarlet robins chose different sites to breed, the former in tree hollows and bark crevices, most commonly of Eucalyptus viminalis around off the ground, and the latter more commonly in forks or on branches of E. pauciflora around above the ground. Flame robins, which were migratory at the site, were more successful in raising young, but the success rate of scarlet robins in the area appeared to be poor compared with other sites. Flies, butterflies, moths, caterpillars, and beetles predominate in the food fed to the young birds. Flame robins fed a higher proportion of flying insects to their young at Nimmitabel than did scarlet robins, which may have been due to their later start to breeding. Parents have been observed feeding young up to five weeks after leaving the nest. A field study in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales found no significant difference in foraging behaviour between male and female flame robins. Birds have been recorded foraging for insects in furrows in freshly ploughed fields.

Compared with the scarlet robin, the flame robin eats a higher proportion of flying insects. Biologist, Doug Robinson, has proposed that scarcity of flying insects in winter is a reason why the flame robin migrates. They have been seen in mixed-species flocks with other small insectivorous passerines, such as scarlet robins, hooded robins (Melanodryas cucullata), white-fronted chats (Epthianura albifrons), and Australian pipits (Anthus australis).