Red-capped Robin
Encyclopedia
The Red-capped Robin is a small passerine
bird
native to Australia
. Found in dryer regions across much of the continent, it inhabits scrub and open woodland. Like many brightly coloured robins of the Petroicidae
family, it is sexually dimorphic
. Measuring 10.5–12.5 cm
(4–5 in
) in length, the robin has a small thin black bill, and dark brown eyes and legs. The male has a distinctive red cap and red breast, black upperparts, and a black tail with white tips. The underparts and shoulders are white. The female is an undistinguished grey-brown. This species uses a variety of songs, and males generally sing to advertise territories and attract females. Birds are encountered in pairs or small groups, but the social behaviour has been little studied.
The position of the Red-capped Robin and its Australian relatives on the passerine family tree is unclear; the Petroicidae are not closely related to either the European
or American Robin
s but appear to be an early offshoot of the Passerida
group of songbird
s. The Red-capped Robin is a predominantly ground-feeding bird and its prey consists of insects and spiders. Although widespread, it is uncommon in much of its range and has receded in some areas from human activity.
and Thomas Horsfield
in 1827, having been collected in the northern Spencer Gulf
in what is now South Australia
. They named it Muscicapa goodenovii, and placed it among the Old World flycatcher
family Muscicapidae, The specific epithet goodenovii honours the Reverend Samuel Goodenough
, Bishop of Carlisle and first treasurer of the Linnean Society
.
The Red-capped Robin was later moved to the genus Petroica
; the generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek
words petro- "rock" and oikos "home", from the bird's habit of sitting on rocks. Within the genus, it is one of five red- or pink-breasted species of robin colloquially known as "Red Robins" as distinct from the "Yellow Robins" of the genus Eopsaltria
. It is not closely related to the American Robin
or the European Robin
; however, it is named after the European Robin. The Australian robins were also classified for a time in the whistler family Pachycephalidae
, before being placed in their own family Petroicidae
, or Eopsaltridae. 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 only geographic variation recorded in plumage is a tendency for females from more arid regions to have paler plumage. Testing of the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of Australian members of the genus Petroica suggests the Red-capped Robin's closest relative within the genus is the Scarlet Robin.
Officially known as the Red-capped Robin, it has also been referred to as Redhead, Redcap, Robin Red-breast or Red-throated Robin. Kuburi is a name used in the Kimberley.
(0.25–0.31 oz
). Males and females are of similar size. It has longer legs than the other robins of the genus Petroica. The male has a distinctive scarlet cap and breast. Its upperparts are jet black with white shoulder bars, and its tail black with white tips. The underparts and shoulder are white. All colours are sharply delineated from one another. The female is an undistinguished grey-brown above with a reddish tint to the crown, and paler underneath with dark brown wings and pale buff wing patch. Some females have a reddish tint to the breast. Both sexes have a small black bill, and dark brown eyes and legs. Immature birds initially resemble the female; it is only with their second moult
, which takes place at around or just over a year of age that males adopt their distinctive adult plumage. The Red-capped Robin moults once a year, after the breeding season which takes place between December and April.
Two red keto-carotenoid pigments, canthaxanthin
and adonirubin, are responsible for the redness in the Red-capped Robin's plumage. The birds are unable to synthesize these compounds themselves, and hence need to obtain them from their food. Carotenoids are costly to metabolise and are also required for use in immune function, hence birds need to be in good condition to have enough left for use in red feathers. This makes red plumage a good advertisement to prospective mates. A 2001 field study at Terrick Terrick National Park
in Victoria found that males who had greater reproductive success and were in better condition moulted into a brighter plumage the following year. However, male age and condition at the time were more likely to predict mating success for the following breeding season. Adult males can breed at one year of age and may do so while yet in non-breeding plumage, but they are less successful at reproducing at this age. The oldest recorded age is 5 years and 7 months for a bird banded near Beverley, Western Australia
, in 1990.
A variety of calls have been recorded, described as 'tinkle' and 'blurt' songs. These are similar across mainland Australia but distinct on Rottnest Island
; on the isolated island, birds rarely linked successive songs.
This species may be confused with the related Flame Robin
(P. phoenicea) and Scarlet Robin
(P. boodang), but the male can be distinguished by its red crown (white in the other two species) and smaller size; furthermore, the male Flame Robin has dark grey rather than black upperparts. Female and immature birds are harder to distinguish, but can be differentiated by the reddish tinge of the crown and whiter underparts.
, Cape York
, the Top End
and most of the Kimberley (there have been occasional sitings in the southernmost parts). Offshore populations exist on Rottnest Island, as well as Greenly and Pearson Islands off the Eyre Peninsula
, but it is not found on Kangaroo Island
. Although widespread, it is uncommon in many areas; it is rare east of the Great Dividing Range
, in coastal regions in the south of the continent, and in the northern parts of its range—it is seldom encountered north of 20°S. Its movements are generally poorly known, particularly outside the breeding season. It is sedentary in much the southern parts of its range, although the Red-capped Robin is a spring and summer visitor to the Nullarbor Plain
and Adelaide region in South Australia, and central Victoria
. It is a winter visitor in the northern parts of its range.
The Red-capped Robin prefers more arid habitat than its relatives, and inhabits dryer areas while the Scarlet Robin
occupies wetter forests where they co-occur. The Red-capped Robin's preferred habitat is dry Acacia
, Callitris
or mixed scrubland or woodland, dominated by such species as Mulga (Acacia aneura), Georgina Gidgee (Acacia georginae
), Raspberry Jam (Acacia acuminata), Black Cypress-pine (Callitris endlicheri
), White Cypress-pine (C. columellaris
), and Slender Cypress-pine (C. preissii
) with understory
shrubs such as Cassia
, hop-bush (Dodonaea
), Emu bush (Eremophila
) and spinifex (Triodia
).
in Sydney
's western suburbs, it has now almost disappeared from the Sydney Basin
. It has also disappeared from the vicinity of Rockhampton
in Queensland, and declined on Rottnest Island, and in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. Field studies in small patches of remnant vegetation indicate reduced survival rates there.
The feral cat
is known to prey on the Red-capped Robin, and several bird species including the Australian Raven
(Corvus coronoides), Grey Shrike-thrush
(Colluricincla harmonica), Grey Butcherbird
(Cracticus torquatus) and White-browed Babbler
(Pomatostomus superciliosus) raid nests and take young. There is one record of a Brown-headed Honeyeater
(Melithreptus brevirostris) feeding on an egg. Predation is the commonest cause of nest failure.
(Rhipidura leucophrys), Southern Whiteface
(Aphelocephala leucopsis), Rufous Whistler
(Pachycephala rufiventris) and Black-faced Woodswallow
(Artamus cinereus) in Queensland, and the Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
(Acanthiza uropygialis), Buff-rumped Thornbill
(A. reguloides) or Inland Thornbill
(A. apicalis) in Western Australia.
The Red-capped Robin typically perches in a prominent location low to the ground, often flicking its wings and tail. It is very active and does not stay still for long. The female has been reported as being fairly tame, while the male is more wary of human contact.
The Red-capped Robin is territorial
during the breeding season; the area occupied has been measured between 0.25 and 1.2 ha (0.6–3 acres). A pair lives and forages within their territory before dispersing in autumn. The male proclaims ownership by singing loudly from a suitable perch at the territory boundary, and confronts other males with a harsh scolding call should they make an incursion. Two males have been seen to face one another 30 cm to 1 m (12–40 in) apart, flicking wings and manoeuvring for position in a threat display while the female is incubating her eggs. Both sexes also react to the playback of song recordings. The male will also defend against incursions by male Scarlet Robins, and conversely avoid foraging in the latter species' territories. Most juvenile Red-capped Robins are unable to live in territories occupied by adult birds, and need to travel to find unoccupied land; the furthest dispersal recorded to date has been 36 km (22 mi), from Terrick Terrick National Park across farmland to Gunbower State Forest in northern Victoria.
, Western Australia, revealed 96% of their diet was made up of beetles, while ant
s made up the remainder. Other prey recorded include spiders, and insects such as grasshoppers including the Australian Plague Locust
(Chortoicetes terminifera), adult and larval butterflies and moths, including geometer moth
s, dragonflies and damselflies
, mantis
es, antlion
s, true bugs
, including chinch bugs of the family Lygaeidae and shield bugs, various types of beetles, earwig
s, and flies such as blow-flies
and horse-flies
.
The Red-capped Robin mostly pounces on prey on the ground, although it can swoop and catch creatures while airborne. Less often, it gleans (takes prey while perched) in low-lying vegetation, almost always less than 3 m (10 ft) above the ground. The prey is most commonly on the ground when caught, although airborne insects are sometimes taken. A low branch may be used as a vantage point in hunting.
s, feathers and fur are used for binding or filling, and the nest is generally placed in a tree fork or even a mistletoe bush. It may be decorated with lichen
and camouflaged to blend in with its surroundings. Two to three dull white eggs tinted bluish, greyish or brownish and splotched with dark grey-brown are laid on consecutive days, measuring 16 mm x 13 mm (0.6 x 0.5 in). Females alone develop brood patch
es and incubate
, although both sexes feed the young. The male will keep lookout either on the nest or perched on a nearby branch, rather than brood while the female is foraging, and parents will feed young and dart off quickly if there are predators in the vicinity. Extra-pair mating and fertilisation is fairly common, with 23% of nestlings and 37% of broods having a different father to the one rearing them, and there is some evidence that extra-pair couplings are more likely to produce male birds.
Like all passerines, the chicks are altricial
; they are born blind and covered only by a thin layer of down
. By seven days, they are stretching wings and preening, and at two weeks they are able to fly. Parents feed young for at least three weeks after leaving the nest, and have been recorded giving them spiders, and insects such as flies and moths. Males take over feeding young when females begin renesting for the next brood. In a field study near Cooma
in southern New South Wales, fledglings were observed to disperse from the natal territory after four to six weeks for a single brood year, and in less than a week on both occasions in a pair which raised two broods in the season. The long breeding season and multiple broods therein are an adaptation to mild climate and high levels of predation. Despite this, on average only two young are successfully fledged per year.
The Brush Cuckoo
(Cacomantis variolosus), Pallid Cuckoo
(C. pallidus), Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo
(Chrysococcyx basalis), and Black-eared Cuckoo
(C. osculans) have been recorded as brood parasite
s of the Red-capped Robin; female cuckoos lay their eggs in robin nests, which are then raised by the robins as their own. Red-capped Robins have been observed to be particularly aggressive in driving Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoos from their territories in Terrick Terrick National Park in a field study, and no nests were found parasitised there.
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
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
native to 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...
. Found in dryer regions across much of the continent, it inhabits scrub and open woodland. Like many brightly coloured robins of 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 sexually dimorphic
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
. Measuring 10.5–12.5 cm
Centimetre
A centimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one hundredth of a metre, which is the SI base unit of length. Centi is the SI prefix for a factor of . Hence a centimetre can be written as or — meaning or respectively...
(4–5 in
Inch
An inch is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units. There are 36 inches in a yard and 12 inches in a foot...
) in length, the robin has a small thin black bill, and dark brown eyes and legs. The male has a distinctive red cap and red breast, black upperparts, and a black tail with white tips. The underparts and shoulders are white. The female is an undistinguished grey-brown. This species uses a variety of songs, and males generally sing to advertise territories and attract females. Birds are encountered in pairs or small groups, but the social behaviour has been little studied.
The position of the Red-capped Robin and its Australian relatives on the passerine family tree is unclear; the Petroicidae are not closely related to either the European
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 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...
s but appear to be an early offshoot of the Passerida
Passerida
Passerida is under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, one of two "parvorders" contained within the suborder Passeri...
group of songbird
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
s. The Red-capped Robin is a predominantly ground-feeding bird and its prey consists of insects and spiders. Although widespread, it is uncommon in much of its range and has receded in some areas from human activity.
Taxonomy
The Red-capped Robin was described by Nicholas Aylward VigorsNicholas Aylward Vigors
Nicholas Aylward Vigors was an Irish zoologist and politician.Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow. He studied at Trinity College, Oxford. He served in the army during the Peninsular War from 1809 to 1811. He then returned to Oxford, graduating with a B.A. in 1815 and in 1817 with an...
and Thomas Horsfield
Thomas Horsfield
Thomas Horsfield M. D. was an American physician and naturalist.Horsfield was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the grandson of Timothy Horsfield, Sr., a colonel and justice of the peace in Bethlehem, and a friend mentioned in Benjamin...
in 1827, having been collected in the northern Spencer Gulf
Spencer Gulf
The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost of two large inlets on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. The Gulf is 322 km long and 129 km wide at its mouth. The western shore of the Gulf is the Eyre Peninsula, while the eastern side is the...
in what is now South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. They named it Muscicapa goodenovii, and placed it among the Old World flycatcher
Old World flycatcher
The Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae is a large family of small passerine birds mostly restricted to the Old World. These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing.-Characteristics:...
family Muscicapidae, The specific epithet goodenovii honours the Reverend Samuel Goodenough
Samuel Goodenough
Samuel Goodenough was the Bishop of Carlisle from 1808 until his death in 1827, and an amateur botanist and collector. He is honoured in the scientific names of the plant genus Goodenia and the Red-capped Robin .-Life:Born at Kimpton, near Weyhill, Hampshire, on 29 April 1743 , he was the third...
, Bishop of Carlisle and first treasurer of the Linnean Society
Linnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is the world's premier society for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history. It publishes a zoological journal, as well as botanical and biological journals...
.
The Red-capped Robin was later moved to the genus Petroica
Petroica
Petroica is a genus of Australasian robins, named due to their red and pink markings. They are not closely related to the European Robin nor the American robin...
; the generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
words petro- "rock" and oikos "home", from the bird's habit of sitting on rocks. Within the genus, it is one of five red- or pink-breasted species of robin colloquially known as "Red Robins" as distinct from the "Yellow Robins" of 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...
. It is not closely related to 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...
or 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...
; however, it is named after the European Robin. The Australian robins were also classified for a time in the whistler family 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...
, before being placed in their own family 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...
, or Eopsaltridae. Sibley
Charles Sibley
Charles Gald Sibley was an American ornithologist and molecular biologist. He had an immense influence on the scientific classification of birds, and the work that Sibley initiated has substantially altered our understanding of the evolutionary history of modern birds.Sibley's taxonomy has been a...
and Ahlquist's DNA-DNA hybridisation
DNA-DNA hybridisation
DNA-DNA hybridization generally refers to a molecular biology technique that measures the degree of genetic similarity between pools of DNA sequences. It is usually used to determine the genetic distance between two species...
studies placed the robins in a 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 crows. However, subsequent molecular research (and current consensus) places the robins as a very early offshoot of the Passerida
Passerida
Passerida is under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, one of two "parvorders" contained within the suborder Passeri...
, or "advanced" songbirds, within the songbird
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
lineage.
No subspecies are recognised, and the only geographic variation recorded in plumage is a tendency for females from more arid regions to have paler plumage. Testing of the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of Australian members of the genus Petroica suggests the Red-capped Robin's closest relative within the genus is the Scarlet Robin.
Officially known as the Red-capped Robin, it has also been referred to as Redhead, Redcap, Robin Red-breast or Red-throated Robin. Kuburi is a name used in the Kimberley.
Description
The smallest of the red robins, the Red-capped Robin is 10.5–12.5 cm (4–5 in) long with a wingspan of 15–19.5 cm (6–8 in), and weighs around 7–9 gGram
The gram is a metric system unit of mass....
(0.25–0.31 oz
Ounce
The ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 28 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems...
). Males and females are of similar size. It has longer legs than the other robins of the genus Petroica. The male has a distinctive scarlet cap and breast. Its upperparts are jet black with white shoulder bars, and its tail black with white tips. The underparts and shoulder are white. All colours are sharply delineated from one another. The female is an undistinguished grey-brown above with a reddish tint to the crown, and paler underneath with dark brown wings and pale buff wing patch. Some females have a reddish tint to the breast. Both sexes have a small black bill, and dark brown eyes and legs. Immature birds initially resemble the female; it is only with their second moult
Moult
In biology, moulting or molting , also known as sloughing, shedding, or for some species, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body , either at specific times of year, or at specific points in its life cycle.Moulting can involve the epidermis , pelage...
, which takes place at around or just over a year of age that males adopt their distinctive adult plumage. The Red-capped Robin moults once a year, after the breeding season which takes place between December and April.
Canthaxanthin
Canthaxanthin is a carotenoid pigment widely distributed in nature. Carotenoids belong to a larger class of phytochemicals known as terpenoids. The chemical formula of canthaxanthin is C40H52O2. It has E number E161g and is approved for use in the EU and USA however it is not approved for usage in...
and adonirubin, are responsible for the redness in the Red-capped Robin's plumage. The birds are unable to synthesize these compounds themselves, and hence need to obtain them from their food. Carotenoids are costly to metabolise and are also required for use in immune function, hence birds need to be in good condition to have enough left for use in red feathers. This makes red plumage a good advertisement to prospective mates. A 2001 field study at Terrick Terrick National Park
Terrick Terrick National Park
Terrick Terrick National Park is a national park in Victoria, Australia, northwest of Melbourne, north of the town of Mitiamo and north of the City of Bendigo. It is an important remnant of Box-Ironbark forests and northern grass plains and is close to Kow Swamp, the site of a major...
in Victoria found that males who had greater reproductive success and were in better condition moulted into a brighter plumage the following year. However, male age and condition at the time were more likely to predict mating success for the following breeding season. Adult males can breed at one year of age and may do so while yet in non-breeding plumage, but they are less successful at reproducing at this age. The oldest recorded age is 5 years and 7 months for a bird banded near Beverley, Western Australia
Beverley, Western Australia
Beverley is a town located in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, south-east of the state capital, Perth, between York and Brookton on the Great Southern Highway...
, in 1990.
A variety of calls have been recorded, described as 'tinkle' and 'blurt' songs. These are similar across mainland Australia but distinct on Rottnest Island
Rottnest Island
Rottnest Island is located off the coast of Western Australia, near Fremantle. It is called Wadjemup by the Noongar people, meaning "place across the water". The island is long, and at its widest point with a total land area of . It is classified as an A Class Reserve and is managed by the...
; on the isolated island, birds rarely linked successive songs.
This species may be confused with the related Flame Robin
Flame Robin
The Flame Robin 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 but...
(P. phoenicea) and Scarlet Robin
Scarlet Robin
The Scarlet Robin is a common red-breasted Australasian robin in the passerine bird genus Petroica. The species is found on continental Australia and its offshore islands, including Tasmania...
(P. boodang), but the male can be distinguished by its red crown (white in the other two species) and smaller size; furthermore, the male Flame Robin has dark grey rather than black upperparts. Female and immature birds are harder to distinguish, but can be differentiated by the reddish tinge of the crown and whiter underparts.
Distribution and habitat
The Red-capped Robin is found across Australia except for TasmaniaTasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Cape York
Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth...
, the Top End
Top End
The Top End of northern Australia is the second northernmost point on the continent. It covers a rather vaguely-defined area of perhaps 400,000 square kilometres behind the northern coast from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin across to Arnhem Land with the Indian Ocean on the west, the...
and most of the Kimberley (there have been occasional sitings in the southernmost parts). Offshore populations exist on Rottnest Island, as well as Greenly and Pearson Islands off the Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded on the east by Spencer Gulf, the west by the Great Australian Bight, and the north by the Gawler Ranges. It is named after explorer Edward John Eyre who explored some of it in 1839-1841. The coastline was first explored by...
, but it is not found on Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island is Australia's third-largest island after Tasmania and Melville Island. It is southwest of Adelaide at the entrance of Gulf St Vincent. Its closest point to the mainland is off Cape Jervis, on the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula in the state of South Australia. The island is long...
. Although widespread, it is uncommon in many areas; it is rare east of the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
, in coastal regions in the south of the continent, and in the northern parts of its range—it is seldom encountered north of 20°S. Its movements are generally poorly known, particularly outside the breeding season. It is sedentary in much the southern parts of its range, although the Red-capped Robin is a spring and summer visitor to the Nullarbor Plain
Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about...
and Adelaide region in South Australia, and central Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. It is a winter visitor in the northern parts of its range.
The Red-capped Robin prefers more arid habitat than its relatives, and inhabits dryer areas while the Scarlet Robin
Scarlet Robin
The Scarlet Robin is a common red-breasted Australasian robin in the passerine bird genus Petroica. The species is found on continental Australia and its offshore islands, including Tasmania...
occupies wetter forests where they co-occur. The Red-capped Robin's preferred habitat is dry Acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
, Callitris
Callitris
Callitris is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae . There are 15 species in the genus, of which 13 are native to Australia and the other two native to New Caledonia. Traditionally the most widely used common name is cypress-pine, a name shared by the closely related genus Actinostrobus...
or mixed scrubland or woodland, dominated by such species as Mulga (Acacia aneura), Georgina Gidgee (Acacia georginae
Acacia georginae
Acacia georginae is a perennial tree which is native to Australia and which has been introduced into the United States. Common names for it include Georgina Gidgee, Georgina Gidyea and Poison Gidyea...
), Raspberry Jam (Acacia acuminata), Black Cypress-pine (Callitris endlicheri
Callitris endlicheri
Callitris endlicheri, commonly known as the Black Cypress Pine, is a species of conifer in the Cupressaceae family.It is found only in Australia.-References:* Conifer Specialist Group 1998. . Downloaded on 10 July 2007....
), White Cypress-pine (C. columellaris
Callitris columellaris
Callitris columellaris is a species of coniferous tree in the family Cupressaceae , native to most of Australia. Common names include White Cypress-pine, Murray River Cypress-pine, and Northern Cypress-pine....
), and Slender Cypress-pine (C. preissii
Callitris preissii
Callitris preissii is a species of conifer in the Cupressaceae family, found only in Australia.Common Names: Rottnest Island pine , Murray pine, maroong, Southern Cypress pine, or Slender Cypress pine -External Links:...
) with understory
Understory
Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs...
shrubs such as Cassia
Cassia (genus)
Cassia is a genus of Fabaceae in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Commonly called cassias, "cassia" is also the English name of Cinnamomum aromaticum in the Lauraceae , and some other species of Cinnamomum...
, hop-bush (Dodonaea
Dodonaea
Dodonaea is a genus of about 70 species of flowering plants in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, with a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of Africa, the Americas, southern Asia and Australasia. By far the highest species diversity is in Australia...
), Emu bush (Eremophila
Eremophila (plant)
Eremophila is a genus of plants of the family Scrophulariaceae, with species known by the common names of Emu Bush, Poverty Bush or Fuchsia Bush. Currently, there are 215 recognised species, all of which are endemic to Australia...
) and spinifex (Triodia
Triodia (plant genus)
Triodia is a large genus of hummock-forming grass endemic to Australia; they are commonly known as spinifex, although they are not a part of the coastal genus Spinifex. There are currently 64 recognised species...
).
Threats
The species has generally fared badly with human change to the landscape. Once common on the Cumberland PlainCumberland Plain
The Cumberland Plain is a region in the Sydney Basin of New South Wales, Australia. The plain extends from 10 kilometres north of Windsor in the north, to Picton in the south; and...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
's western suburbs, it has now almost disappeared from the Sydney Basin
Sydney Basin
The Sydney Basin is a sedimentary basin on the east coast of New South Wales, Australia consisting of Permian and Triassic sedimentary rocks...
. It has also disappeared from the vicinity of Rockhampton
Rockhampton, Queensland
Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
in Queensland, and declined on Rottnest Island, and in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. Field studies in small patches of remnant vegetation indicate reduced survival rates there.
The 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...
is known to prey on the Red-capped Robin, and several bird species including the Australian Raven
Australian Raven
The Australian Raven is the largest Australian member of the genus Corvus and one of three Australian species commonly known as ravens. It is a more slender bird than the Common Raven of the Northern Hemisphere but is otherwise similar...
(Corvus coronoides), Grey Shrike-thrush
Grey Shrike-thrush
The Grey Shrikethrush or Grey Shrike-thrush , formerly commonly known as Grey Thrush, is one of the best-loved and most distinctive songbirds of Australasia. It is moderately common to common in most parts of Australia, but absent from the driest of the inland deserts...
(Colluricincla harmonica), Grey Butcherbird
Grey Butcherbird
The Grey Butcherbird is a widely distributed species endemic to Australia. The Grey Butcherbird occurs in a range of different habitats including arid, semi-arid and temperate zones. It has a characteristic "rollicking" birdsong...
(Cracticus torquatus) and White-browed Babbler
White-browed Babbler
The White-browed Babbler is a species of bird in the Pomatostomidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.-References:...
(Pomatostomus superciliosus) raid nests and take young. There is one record of a Brown-headed Honeyeater
Brown-headed Honeyeater
The Brown-headed Honeyeater is a species of passerine bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation....
(Melithreptus brevirostris) feeding on an egg. Predation is the commonest cause of nest failure.
Behaviour
The Red-capped Robin is generally encountered alone or in pairs, although groups of up to eight birds—a mated pair and their young—may be seen in autumn and winter. The species may join mixed-species flocks with other small insectivorous passerines; species recorded include the Willie WagtailWillie Wagtail
The Willie Wagtail is a passerine bird native to Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Bismarck Archipelago, and eastern Indonesia. It is a common and familiar bird throughout much of its range, living in most habitats apart from thick forest...
(Rhipidura leucophrys), Southern Whiteface
Southern Whiteface
The Southern Whiteface is a species of bird in the Pardalotidae family.It is endemic to Australia.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 25 July 2007.-External links:*...
(Aphelocephala leucopsis), Rufous Whistler
Rufous Whistler
The Rufous Whistler is a species of whistler found in New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, and throughout Australia . Predominantly a reddish-brown and grey bird, it makes up for its subdued plumage with its song-making ability...
(Pachycephala rufiventris) and Black-faced Woodswallow
Black-faced Woodswallow
The Black-faced Woodswallow, Artamus cinereus is a woodswallow. This swallow is 19 cm long. It is the most widespread species in the family Artamidae. They live in Australia, New Guinea and the Sunda Islands, including Timor.- External links :*...
(Artamus cinereus) in Queensland, and the Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
The Chestnut-rumped Thornbill is a species of bird in the Pardalotidae family.It is endemic to Australia....
(Acanthiza uropygialis), Buff-rumped Thornbill
Buff-rumped Thornbill
The Buff-rumped Thornbill is a species of thornbill found in open forest land in east Australia, specifically around Sydney, south of Chinchilla and east of Cobar in an area of 1,000,000–10,000,000 km²...
(A. reguloides) or Inland Thornbill
Inland Thornbill
The Inland Thornbill , commonly called the Broad-tailed Thornbill, is a small, insect-eating bird of Australia. The Inland Thornbill is commonly confused with the coastal Brown Thornbill due to its similar colorations. The Inland Thornbill encompasses four subspecies :* A. a. apicalis* A. a....
(A. apicalis) in Western Australia.
The Red-capped Robin typically perches in a prominent location low to the ground, often flicking its wings and tail. It is very active and does not stay still for long. The female has been reported as being fairly tame, while the male is more wary of human contact.
The Red-capped Robin is territorial
Territory (animal)
In ethology the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics...
during the breeding season; the area occupied has been measured between 0.25 and 1.2 ha (0.6–3 acres). A pair lives and forages within their territory before dispersing in autumn. The male proclaims ownership by singing loudly from a suitable perch at the territory boundary, and confronts other males with a harsh scolding call should they make an incursion. Two males have been seen to face one another 30 cm to 1 m (12–40 in) apart, flicking wings and manoeuvring for position in a threat display while the female is incubating her eggs. Both sexes also react to the playback of song recordings. The male will also defend against incursions by male Scarlet Robins, and conversely avoid foraging in the latter species' territories. Most juvenile Red-capped Robins are unable to live in territories occupied by adult birds, and need to travel to find unoccupied land; the furthest dispersal recorded to date has been 36 km (22 mi), from Terrick Terrick National Park across farmland to Gunbower State Forest in northern Victoria.
Feeding
The diet consists of insects and other small arthropods. One study of Red-capped Robin faeces conducted near KambaldaKambalda, Western Australia
Kambalda is a small mining town about 60 kilometres from the mining city of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, within the Goldfields. It is split into two townsites 4 kilometres apart, Kambalda East and Kambalda West; and is located on the western edge of a giant salt lake, Lake Lefroy...
, Western Australia, revealed 96% of their diet was made up of beetles, while ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s made up the remainder. Other prey recorded include spiders, and insects such as grasshoppers including the Australian Plague Locust
Australian plague locust
The Australian plague locust is a native Australian insect in the family Acrididae and a significant agricultural pest....
(Chortoicetes terminifera), adult and larval butterflies and moths, including geometer moth
Geometer moth
The geometer moths or Geometridae are a family of the order Lepidoptera...
s, dragonflies and damselflies
Odonata
Odonata is an order of insects, encompassing dragonflies and damselflies . The word dragonfly is also sometimes used to refer to all Odonata, but the back-formation odonate is a more correct English name for the group as a whole...
, mantis
Mantis
Mantis is the common name of any insect in the order Mantodea, also commonly known as praying mantises. The word itself means "prophet" in Latin and Greek...
es, antlion
Antlion
Antlions are a group of insects in the family Myrmeleontidae . The most well-known genus is Myrmeleo. There are about 2,000 species...
s, true bugs
Hemiptera
Hemiptera is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs , comprising around 50,000–80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others...
, including chinch bugs of the family Lygaeidae and shield bugs, various types of beetles, earwig
Earwig
Earwigs make up the insect order Dermaptera, found throughout the Americas, Africa, Eurasia, Australia and New Zealand. With 1,800 species in 12 families, they are one of the smaller insect orders...
s, and flies such as blow-flies
Blow-fly
Calliphoridae are insects in the Order Diptera, family Calliphoridae...
and horse-flies
Horse-fly
Insects in the order Diptera, family Tabanidae, are commonly called horse flies. Often considered pests for the bites that many inflict, they are among the world's largest true flies. They are known to be extremely noisy during flight. They are also important pollinators of flowers, especially in...
.
The Red-capped Robin mostly pounces on prey on the ground, although it can swoop and catch creatures while airborne. Less often, it gleans (takes prey while perched) in low-lying vegetation, almost always less than 3 m (10 ft) above the ground. The prey is most commonly on the ground when caught, although airborne insects are sometimes taken. A low branch may be used as a vantage point in hunting.
Breeding
The breeding season takes place over five months from August to January with up to three broods raised. The male proposes suitable nest sites to the female by rubbing his body over a suitable tree fork, all the while trilling continuously. He may indicate several sites before the female ultimately makes the decision where to build, at which point she constructs the nest alone. The nest is a neat, deep cup made of soft dry grass and bark. Spider webSpider web
A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....
s, feathers and fur are used for binding or filling, and the nest is generally placed in a tree fork or even a mistletoe bush. It may be decorated with lichen
Lichen
Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
and camouflaged to blend in with its surroundings. Two to three dull white eggs tinted bluish, greyish or brownish and splotched with dark grey-brown are laid on consecutive days, measuring 16 mm x 13 mm (0.6 x 0.5 in). Females alone develop brood patch
Brood patch
thumb|250px|Brood patch of [[Sand Martin]]A brood patch is a patch of featherless skin that is visible on the underside of birds during the nesting season. This patch of skin is well supplied with blood vessels at the surface making it possible for the birds to transfer heat to their eggs when...
es and incubate
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...
, although both sexes feed the young. The male will keep lookout either on the nest or perched on a nearby branch, rather than brood while the female is foraging, and parents will feed young and dart off quickly if there are predators in the vicinity. Extra-pair mating and fertilisation is fairly common, with 23% of nestlings and 37% of broods having a different father to the one rearing them, and there is some evidence that extra-pair couplings are more likely to produce male birds.
Like all passerines, the chicks are altricial
Altricial
Altricial, meaning "requiring nourishment", refers to a pattern of growth and development in organisms which are incapable of moving around on their own soon after hatching or being born...
; they are born blind and covered only by a thin layer of down
Down feather
The down of birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator and padding, used in goods such as jackets, bedding,...
. By seven days, they are stretching wings and preening, and at two weeks they are able to fly. Parents feed young for at least three weeks after leaving the nest, and have been recorded giving them spiders, and insects such as flies and moths. Males take over feeding young when females begin renesting for the next brood. In a field study near Cooma
Cooma, New South Wales
-Education: is Cooma's only public high school, it serves the town and seven of the neighbouring rural towns and villages such as Berridale, Jindabyne, Nimmitabel, Bredbo and Dalgety....
in southern New South Wales, fledglings were observed to disperse from the natal territory after four to six weeks for a single brood year, and in less than a week on both occasions in a pair which raised two broods in the season. The long breeding season and multiple broods therein are an adaptation to mild climate and high levels of predation. Despite this, on average only two young are successfully fledged per year.
The Brush Cuckoo
Brush Cuckoo
The Brush Cuckoo, Cacomantis variolosus, is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis, and the Hoatzin....
(Cacomantis variolosus), Pallid Cuckoo
Pallid Cuckoo
The Pallid Cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family.It is found in Australia, Christmas Island, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea....
(C. pallidus), Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo
Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo
The Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family, found from Australia to South-east Asia. The species was previously known by the scientific name of Chalcites basalis.-Media:...
(Chrysococcyx basalis), and Black-eared Cuckoo
Black-eared Cuckoo
The Black-eared Cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family.It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 24 July 2007....
(C. osculans) have been recorded as brood parasite
Brood parasite
Brood parasites are organisms that use the strategy of brood parasitism, a kind of kleptoparasitism found among birds, fish or insects, involving the manipulation and use of host individuals either of the same or different species to raise the young of the brood-parasite...
s of the Red-capped Robin; female cuckoos lay their eggs in robin nests, which are then raised by the robins as their own. Red-capped Robins have been observed to be particularly aggressive in driving Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoos from their territories in Terrick Terrick National Park in a field study, and no nests were found parasitised there.