The Norfolk Island Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis xanthoprocta), also known as the Norfolk Island Whistler or Norfolk Island Thickhead, and locally as the “Tamey”, is a small bird in the whistler

Pachycephala

Pachycephala is a genus of birds native to Oceania and Southeast Asia. They are commonly known as typical whistlers. Older guidebooks may refer to them as thickheads, a literal translation of the generic name, which is derived from the Ancient Greek terms pachys "thick" + kephale "head".-Species in...

 family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

, Pachycephalidae

Pachycephalidae

The family Pachycephalidae, collectively the whistlers, includes the whistlers, shrike-thrushes, shrike-tits, pitohuis and Crested Bellbird, and is part of the ancient Australo-Papuan radiation of songbirds. Its members range from small to medium in size, and occupy most of Australasia...

. It is a subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of the Australian Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis) and is endemic to Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...

, an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n territory in the Tasman Sea

Tasman Sea

The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...

, between Australia and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

.

Description

Males of the Norfolk Island subspecies differ from those of other subspecies in lacking the bright yellow, white and black markings and being similar to the females, though somewhat yellower. Relative to most other subspecies it is smaller, with a longer tail and heavier bill.

Distribution and habitat

The whistler is restricted to Norfolk Island, where it is largely confined to the Mt Pitt section of the Norfolk Island National Park

Norfolk Island National Park

Norfolk Island National Park is a protected area of 6.50 km² established in 1984 and managed by the Commonwealth of Australia. It comprises two sections, the Mount Pitt section on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific Ocean with an area of 4.60 km² and the neighbouring 1.90 km² Phillip Island, as...

 and remnant wooded areas within 2 km of the park. It inhabits shrubby understorey in subtropical rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

, palm forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

 and Norfolk Island Pines, as well as in regenerating forest. It also visits gardens.

Status and conservation

After a period of decline during the 1960s and 1970s, the population of the Norfolk Island Golden Whistler was estimated in 2005 at 535 breeding pairs. Ongoing threats include habitat degradation and predation by Black Rat

Black Rat

The black rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae . The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.-Taxonomy:The black rat was...

s and feral cat

Feral cat

A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild; the offspring of a stray cat can be considered feral if born in the wild.In many parts of...

s. It is considered Vulnerable

Vulnerable species

On 30 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 9694 Vulnerable species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations.-References:...

 because of the restricted size of the population and area of its distribution. Ongoing conservation management actions include control of rats and feral cats to minimise predation as well as control of invasive weeds to minimise habitat degradation. It is proposed to reintroduce the whistler to nearby Phillip Island

Phillip Island (Norfolk Island)

Phillip Island is an uninhabited island located south of Norfolk Island in the Southwest Pacific, and part of the Norfolk Island group. It was named in 1788 by Lieutenant Philip Gidley King for Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales. It is part of the Australian territory of Norfolk...

when the regenerating habitat there is suitable.