Pale-yellow Robin
Encyclopedia
The Pale-yellow Robin is a species of passerine
bird in the Petroicidae
family. It is endemic to eastern Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is a non-descript bird with grey head and olive upperparts, white throat and yellow underparts. The sexes are similar. Two subspecies are recognised; the smaller nana from North Queensland and the larger and uncommon nominate race capito from southeast Queensland and northeastern New South Wales. It is insectivorous.
in 1854. For many years it was classified with the other Yellow Robins in the genus Eopsaltria
, on the basis of plumage, nests and behaviour. Others have placed it with the genus Poecilodryas
due to the similarly plumaged fledglings. However, the closest relatives of both it and the related White-faced Robin
remain unclear and are hence placed in their own small genus Tregellasia
, originally erected by Gregory Mathews
in 1912. Like all Australian Robins, it is not closely related to either the European Robin
or the American Robin
, but belongs rather to the Corvida
parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines including pardalotes, Fairy-wrens
and honeyeaters as well as crow
s.
Alternate common names given to the species have been Large-headed Robin and Pale Robin.
, as the latter bird has black legs and is a little larger.
The Pale-yellow Robin makes a trilling call when displaying or defending its territory.
south to Barrington Tops National Park
in New South Wales. It prefers rainforest or dense eucalypt forest, particularly where the lawyer vine grows.
may be anywhere up to 10 m (30 ft) above the ground, though often much lower. Breeding season is July to December with one, or sometimes two, broods. A clutch of 2 oval eggs measuring 20 x 15 mm is laid. They are pale green splotched with brownish marks.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird in the Petroicidae
Petroicidae
The bird family Petroicidae includes roughly 45 species in about 15 genera. All are endemic to Australasia: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific Islands as far east as Samoa. For want of an accurate common name, the family is often called the Australasian robins. Within the...
family. It is endemic to eastern Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is a non-descript bird with grey head and olive upperparts, white throat and yellow underparts. The sexes are similar. Two subspecies are recognised; the smaller nana from North Queensland and the larger and uncommon nominate race capito from southeast Queensland and northeastern New South Wales. It is insectivorous.
Taxonomy
The Pale-yellow Robin was first described by ornithologist John GouldJohn Gould
John Gould was an English ornithologist and bird artist. The Gould League in Australia was named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
in 1854. For many years it was classified with the other Yellow Robins in the genus Eopsaltria
Eopsaltria
Eopsaltria is a genus of small forest passerines known in Australia as the Yellow Robins. They belong to the Australasian Robin family Petroicidae. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek for "dawn singer/song" because of their dawn chorus. They are inquisitive and bold birds, and have been...
, on the basis of plumage, nests and behaviour. Others have placed it with the genus Poecilodryas
Poecilodryas
Poecilodryas is a genus of bird in the Petroicidae family.It contains the following species:* Black-chinned Robin * Black-sided Robin * Buff-sided Robin...
due to the similarly plumaged fledglings. However, the closest relatives of both it and the related White-faced Robin
White-faced Robin
The White-faced Robin is a species of bird in the Petroicidae family.It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea....
remain unclear and are hence placed in their own small genus Tregellasia
Tregellasia
Tregellasia is a genus of bird in the Petroicidae family. The genus is found in Australia and New Guinea.It contains the following species:* Pale-yellow Robin * White-faced Robin -References:...
, originally erected by Gregory Mathews
Gregory Mathews
Gregory Macalister Mathews CBE was an Australian amateur ornithologist.Mathews made his fortune in mining shares, and moved to England around 1900....
in 1912. Like all Australian Robins, it is not closely related to either the European Robin
European Robin
The European Robin , most commonly known in Anglophone Europe simply as the Robin, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family , but is now considered to be an Old World flycatcher...
or the American Robin
American Robin
The American Robin or North American Robin is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. It is named after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely related, with the European robin belonging to the flycatcher family...
, but belongs rather to the Corvida
Corvida
The "Corvida" were one of two "parvorders" contained within the suborder Passeri, as proposed in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy. Standard taxonomic practice would place them at the rank of infraorder....
parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines including pardalotes, Fairy-wrens
Maluridae
The Maluridae are a family of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens of the Northern Hemisphere...
and honeyeaters as well as crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
s.
Alternate common names given to the species have been Large-headed Robin and Pale Robin.
Subspecies
- T. c. capito is the nominate race from rainforests of northeastern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland. Larger than the northern subspecies, it has a paler off-white face and is uncommon within its range.
- T. c. nana, described in 1878 as Eopsaltria nana by E.B. Ramsay from a specimen collected in Cardwell, has been called the Buff-faced or Rufous-lored Robin and is found in rainforest in far north Queensland. It is smaller than the southern subspecies, and its subspecific name nana is LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for 'dwarf'. It has a pale tan face and a pale orange-brown eye ring, hence its common name. It is fairly abundant within its range.
Description
The male and female Pale-yellow Robin are similar in plumage. Measuring 12–13.5 cm (4¾–5⅓ in) and weighing 15–18 g, it is a bird of subdued appearance with grey head and nape blending into an olive green upperparts, more brownish on the wings and tail. The throat is white and the lores off-white in the southern race and buff in the northern race. The breast and belly are yellow. The legs are yellow-orange and the iris dark brown. The thin black bill is around 1.5 cm (⅔ in) long. Juvenile birds are rufous with paler streaks on the head. it can be distinguished from the Eastern Yellow RobinEastern Yellow Robin
The Eastern Yellow Robin is an Australasian robin of coastal and sub-coastal eastern Australia. The extent of the Eastern Yellow Robin's residence is from the extreme southeast corner of South Australia through most of Victoria and the western half of New South Wales and north as far as Cooktown...
, as the latter bird has black legs and is a little larger.
The Pale-yellow Robin makes a trilling call when displaying or defending its territory.
Distribution and habitat
Sedentary in its range, the Pale-yellow Robin is found from Mount Amos to Paluma in North Queensland, and from Cooloola on the Sunshine CoastSunshine Coast, Queensland
The Sunshine Coast is an urban area in South East Queensland, north of the state capital of Brisbane on the Pacific Ocean coastline. Although it does not have a central business district, by population it ranks as the 10th largest metropolis in Australia and the third largest in...
south to Barrington Tops National Park
Barrington Tops National Park
Barrington Tops is a National Park in the Hunter Valley, approximately north of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The nearest towns are Scone, Singleton, Dungog, Gloucester and East Gresford....
in New South Wales. It prefers rainforest or dense eucalypt forest, particularly where the lawyer vine grows.
Behaviour
The Pale-yellow Robin is arboreal and secretive. It is predominantly insectivorous, though may supplement its diet with seeds.Breeding
It uses the prickly Lawyer Vine (Calamus muelleri) as nesting material and as a nest site. The nestBird nest
A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American Robin or Eurasian Blackbird, or the elaborately woven hanging nest of the...
may be anywhere up to 10 m (30 ft) above the ground, though often much lower. Breeding season is July to December with one, or sometimes two, broods. A clutch of 2 oval eggs measuring 20 x 15 mm is laid. They are pale green splotched with brownish marks.