Star finch: Difference between revisions

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22719673/0 |title=''Neochmia ruficauda'' |author=BirdLife International |author-link=BirdLife International |year=2012 |access-date=26 November 2013|ref=harv}}</ref>

| authority = ([[John Gould|Gould]], 1837)

}}

 

== Description ==

 

The broad white spots under its chin and down its flanks give rise to its common name. It has a wingspan of between 49 to 56 mm, a bill length between 11 and 13 mm, and weighs between 10 and 12 grams.<ref name=Menkhorst>{{Cite book|authorlink=Peter Menkhorst|last1=Menkhorst|first1=Peter|title=[[The Australian Bird Guide]]|last2=Rogers|first2=Danny|last3=Clarke|first3=Rohan|last4=Davies|first4=Jeff|last5=Marsack|first5=Peter|last6=Franklin|first6=Kim|publisher=CSIRO Publishing|year=2017|isbn=978-0643097544|location=Clayton, Vic|pages=520–521}}</ref>

 

== Taxonomy and systematics ==

 

The species is also referred to as red-faced firetail, red-tailed finch, or ruficauda finch.<ref name="RDB">{{cite book|title=Reader's digest complete book of Australian birds.|date=1982|publisher=Reader's Digest Services|isbn=0909486638|edition=2nd rev.|page=532}}</ref> The common name, red-tailed finch, was first used by Gould (1884)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gould|first=John|title=[[The Birds of Australia (Gould)|The Birds of Australia : in seven volumes]]|publisher=Published by the author|year=1848|isbn=|location=London|pages=168–178|authorlink=John Gould}}</ref> and was in near universal use from [[Robert Hall (ornithologist)|Hall]] (1899)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hall|first=R|title=A Key to the Birds of Australia and Tasmania with their Geographical Distribution in Australia.|url=https://archive.org/details/keytobirdsofaust00hallrich|publisher=Melville, Mullen and Slade|year=1899|isbn=|location=Melbourne|pages=|authorlink=Robert Hall (ornithologist)}}</ref> until 1926 when the term Star Finch appeared in the [[Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union|Royal Australasian Ornithological Union]]'s (RAOU) second Official Checklist<ref>{{Cite book|last=RAOU|title=The Official Checklist of the Birds of Australia|publisher=Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union|year=1926|isbn=|location=Wolstenholme, Sydney|pages=}}</ref> with no explanation for the change.<ref name="Names">{{Cite book|last1=Fraser|first1=Ian|title=Australian Bird Names: Origins and Meanings|last2=Gray|first2=Jeannie|publisher=CSIRO Publishing|year=2019|isbn=9781486311637|location=Clayton South, Vic|pages=281–288|authorlink=Ian Fraser (naturalist)}}</ref>

Three subspecies have been described:

 

[[File:Star_Finch_(Neochmia_ruficauda_subclarescens)_Wyndham_WA.jpg|thumb|right|At [[Wyndham, Western Australia|Wyndham]], Western Australia]]

 

The [[IUCN Red List]] of Threatened Species rates this species as Least Concern with a decreasing population<ref name="IUCN" /> because "although its population may be declining slowly (and the nominate subspecies may now be extinct), several large and apparently stable populations remain and it is therefore no longer reasonable to suspect a moderately rapid reduction in the overall population".<ref name=Birdlife>{{Cite web|title=BirdLife International (2020) Species factsheet: Neochmia ruficauda.|url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/star-finch-neochmia-ruficauda|last=|first=|date=2020|website=Birdlife International: Data Zone|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref>

 

 

The subspecies ''subclarescens'' has three separate subpopulations, from the [[Pilbara]], [[Fitzroy River (Western Australia)|Fitzroy River]] Valley, [[Gibb River]] and [[Wyndham, Western Australia|Wyndham/]] [[Kununurra, Western Australia|Kununurra r]]<nowiki/>egion of [[Western Australia]] to the western part of the [[Northern Territory]] north of the [[Victoria Highway]].<ref name=Menkhorst/> There may be 200,000 individuals and the population appears to be declining in density but is common in the [[Victoria River (Northern Territory)|Victoria River]] and [[Daly River, Northern Territory|Daly River]] Districts of the Northern Territory and at [[Kununurra, Western Australia|Kununurra]] in association with the [[Ord River Irrigation Scheme]].<ref name="Garnett">{{Cite book|last1=Garnett|first1=S.T.|title=The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010|last2=Szabo|first2=J.K.|last3=Dutson|first3=G|publisher=CSIRO Publishing|year=2011|isbn=|location=Collingwood|pages=}}</ref>

These finches inhabit low, dense, damp [[Grassland|grasslands]] and sedgelands bordering [[Estuary|estuarine]] areas, watercourses, swamps and other freshwater-bodies.<ref name=Birdlife/> They are also found in grassy, open [[savanna]] type [[sclerophyll]] woodland and occasionally in towns.<ref name=Menkhorst/> Flocks can number between 10 and 30 but can build to hundreds.<ref name=Menkhorst/> They are [[Seed predation|granivorous]], foraging in vegetation just above the ground and they often feed on the ground, particularly in the dry season.<ref name=Birdlife/> They nest in a globe of grass lined with feathers producing 3 to 7 white eggs.<ref name=Slater>{{Cite book|authorlink=Peter Slater (ornithologist)|last1=Slater|first1=Peter|title=[[The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds]]|last2=Slater|first2=Pat|last3=Slater|first3=Raoul|publisher=Reed New Holland|year=2009|isbn=9781877069635|edition=2nd|location=London, Sydney, Auckland|pages=398–399}}</ref>.

 

 

==Aviary birds==

 

{{DEFAULTSORT:finch, star}}

[[Category:Birds of Western Australia]]

[[Category:Birds of the Northern Territory]]