Forty-spotted Pardalote
Pardalotus quadragintus
Summary 3
The Forty-spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus quadragintus) is one of Australia's rarest birds and by far the rarest pardalote, being confined to the south-east corner of Tasmania.
Description 4
The rare and endangered forty-spotted pardalote is a small, delicate bird with numerous distinct white dots arranged in rows on the tips of its black wing feathers (2) (4). Its body is generally olive green, sullied grey over the breast and belly, with pale yellow around the eyes and rump (2) (3) (4). The sexes have the same plumage but the males produce a diagnostic mating call during the breeding season (3). While broadly similar in appearance and habit to the much more common and widespread striated and spotted pardalotes, the forty-spotted pardalote has a duller body and lacks their distinctive head markings (4) (3).
Conservation 5
The preservation of white gum woodlands and forests is critical to the survival of the forty-spotted pardalote (3). Fortunately, around 60 percent of the habitat currently occupied is protected within reserves, including the most significant breeding colony on Bruny Island (2). A recovery plan, which ran from 1991 to 1997, was instrumental in increasing the amount of protected habitat, as well as in locating new colonies, planting white gum seedlings to create new habitat, and raising public awareness. The current stability of the forty-pardalote population, at around 3,800 birds in 2008, is evidence of the success of the original recovery plan, but because it still has a very small and fragmented range, the species remains classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List (1) (2) (3). A new four-year recovery plan, implemented in 2006, has the central aim of improving the conservation status of the forty-spotted pardalote sufficiently to warrant it being down-listed to Vulnerable. In order to achieve this, the plan intends to enhance and expand existing habitat, to assist in the colonisation of potential habitat and to conduct research that will help to identify and respond to threats restricting the current population (3).
Sources and Credits
- (c) Original uploader was Nomdeploom at en.wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Forty-spotted_Pardalote.jpg
- (c) David Cook, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.flickr.com/photos/16520061@N08/2630559653
- Adapted by Brittany Burson from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardalotus_quadragintus
- (c) Wildscreen, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/6683349
- (c) Wildscreen, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/6683354
More Info
Range Map
iNat Map
| Color | black, brown, grey, white, yellow |
|---|---|
| Found | only in tasmania |
| Status | endangered |
