Red-capped robin

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Red-capped robin
A small bird with black head and upperparts and a red cap and breast perched on a stick against a sky background
Adult male at Chiltern, Victoria, Australia

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Infraorder:
Passerides
Family: Petroicidae
Genus: Petroica
Species:
P. goodenovii
Binomial name
Petroica goodenovii
(Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)
A map of Australia, showing the range of the red-capped robin – most of southern Australia except Tasmania is marked in red.
Red-capped robin range

The red-capped robin (Petroica goodenovii) is a small

Petroicidae, it is sexually dimorphic. Measuring 10.5–12.5 cm (4.1–4.9 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 is unclear; it and its relatives are unrelated to European or American robins, but they appear to be an early offshoot of the songbird infraorder Passerida. 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

Muscicapidae.[3] The specific epithet goodenovii honours the Reverend Samuel Goodenough, Bishop of Carlisle and first treasurer of the Linnean Society.[4]

The red-capped robin was later moved to the genus

Petroicidae—as a very early offshoot of the Passerida, or "advanced" songbirds, within the songbird lineage.[6]

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.[7] Testing of the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of Australian members of the genus Petroica suggests that the red-capped robin's closest relative within the genus is the scarlet robin.[8]

Officially known as the red-capped robin, it has also been referred to as redhead,[9] redcap, robin red-breast or red-throated robin.[10] Kuburi is a name used in the Kimberley.[11] Across southwestern Australia, it was known as menekedang by the local indigenous people.[12] In the Arandic languages spoken in Central Australia, the red-capped robin is known as ak-arl-atwe-rre-ye meaning "the head that they hit" from an ancient myth of it being hit on the head and bleeding.[13]

Description

A small red and black plumaged bird is perched on a branchlet against a background of small bare branchlets in a tree.
Adult male, showing white shoulder markings

The smallest of the red robins, the red-capped robin is 10.5–12.5 cm (4.1–4.9 in) long with a wingspan of 15–19.5 cm (5.9–7.7 in), and weighs around 7–9 g (0.25–0.31 

moult, which takes place at around a year of age that males adopt their distinctive adult plumage.[15] The red-capped robin moults once a year, after the breeding season, which takes place between December and April.[16]

A small bird with pale brown plumage and reddish tint to chest and cap is perched on a twig against a background of small bare branchlets in a tree.
Female (or immature), southwestern Queensland

Two red keto-carotenoid pigments, canthaxanthin and adonirubin, are responsible for the redness in the red-capped robin's plumage.[17] 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 red-capped robins 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.[18] A 2001 field study at Terrick Terrick National Park in Victoria found that males, which 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.[17] Adult males can breed at one year of age, and may do so while yet in non-breeding plumage,[19] but they are less successful at reproducing at this age.[17] The oldest recorded age is 5 years and 7 months for a bird banded near Beverley, Western Australia, in 1990.[20]

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.[21]

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.[22] Female and immature birds are harder to distinguish, but can be differentiated by the reddish tinge of the crown and whiter underparts.[22]

Distribution and habitat

Red-capped Robin in New South Wales

The red-capped robin is found across Australia, except for

Victoria. It is a winter visitor in the northern parts of its range.[26]

The red-capped robin prefers more arid habitat than its relatives, and inhabits drier areas, while the

Triodia).[25]

Threats

The species has generally fared badly with human change to the landscape. Once common on the

Rockhampton in Queensland, and declined on Rottnest Island, and in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.[25] Field studies in small patches of remnant vegetation indicate reduced survival rates there.[25]

The

grey shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica), grey butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus), and white-browed babbler (Pomatostomus superciliosus) raid nests and take young.[28] There is one record of a brown-headed honeyeater (Melithreptus brevirostris) feeding on an egg.[29] Predation is the commonest cause of nest failure.[30]

Behaviour

Male in breeding plumage vocalising,
Eulo in southwestern Queensland

The red-capped robin is generally encountered alone or in pairs,[14] although groups of up to eight birds—a mated pair and their young—may be seen in autumn and winter.[19] The species may join mixed-species flocks with other small insectivorous passerines; species recorded include the willie wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys), southern whiteface (Aphelocephala leucopsis), rufous whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris) and black-faced woodswallow (Artamus cinereus) in Queensland,[31] and the chestnut-rumped thornbill (Acanthiza uropygialis), buff-rumped thornbill (A. reguloides) or inland thornbill (A. apicalis) in Western Australia.[32]

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.[33] The female has been reported as being fairly tame, while the male is more wary of human contact.[34]

The red-capped robin is

ha (0.6–3 acres).[19] A pair lives and forages within their territory before dispersing in autumn.[19] 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.[35] Two males have been seen to face one another 30 to 1 m (98.4 to 3.3 ft) apart, flicking wings and manoeuvring for position in a threat display, while the female is incubating her eggs.[33] Both sexes also react to the playback of song recordings.[36] The male will also defend against incursions by male scarlet robins, and conversely avoid foraging in the latter species' territories.[35] 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 National Park in northern Victoria.[37]

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.

incubate, although both sexes feed the young.[30] The male will keep lookout either on the nest or perched on a nearby branch, rather than brood, while the female is foraging; and both parents will feed young and dart off quickly, if there are predators in the vicinity.[40] 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.[41]

Like all passerines, the chicks are

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 fledglings dispersed in less than a week from the territory of a pair that raised two broods in the season.[35] 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.[30]

The

brood parasites of the red-capped robin; female cuckoos lay their eggs in robin nests, which are then raised by the robins as their own.[26][28] 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.[30]

Feeding

The diet consists of insects and other small

horse-flies.[19][43]

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 (9.8 ft) above the ground.[44] The prey is most commonly on the ground when caught, although airborne insects are sometimes taken.[44] A low branch may be used as a vantage point in hunting.[44]

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22704816A93986496.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1826.tb00115.x
    .[245]
  3. ^ a b Boles, p. xv.
  4. ISBN 0-7270-0009-8
    .
  5. ^ Boles, p. 66.
  6. PMID 15263073
    .
  7. ^ Higgins et al. p. 664.
  8. PMID 19463962
    .
  9. ^ a b c Boles, p. 93.
  10. ^ a b Higgins et al. p. 649.
  11. ISBN 1-56308-923-8
    .
  12. ^ Abbott, Ian (2009). "Aboriginal names of bird species in south-west Western Australia, with suggestions for their adoption into common usage" (PDF). Conservation Science Western Australia Journal. 7 (2): 213–78 [263].
  13. S2CID 62767948
    .
  14. ^
    ISBN 0-670-90478-3
    .
  15. ^ Higgins et al. p. 661.
  16. ^ Higgins et al. p. 662.
  17. ^ a b c Dowling, Damien K; Mulder, Raoul A. (2006). "Red plumage and its association with reproductive success in red-capped robins". Annales Zoologici Fennici. 43 (4): 311–21.
  18. PMID 21238418
    .
  19. ^ a b c d e f g Higgins et al. p. 655.
  20. ^ Australian Bird & Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS) (1998). "Recovery round-up". Corella. 22: 126–28.
  21. S2CID 84762083
    . Retrieved 7 June 2007.
  22. ^ a b Higgins et al. p. 650.
  23. ^ a b c Boles, p. 85.
  24. ^ Higgins et al. p. 652.
  25. ^ a b c d Higgins et al. p. 651.
  26. ^ a b Boles, p. 86.
  27. ISBN 0-86417-565-5
    .
  28. ^ a b Higgins et al. p. 660.
  29. ^ Hobbs, J.N. (1990). "Nest predation by two species of honeyeater". Australian Birds. 24: 3–4.
  30. ^
    doi:10.1071/ZO03028
    .
  31. ^ Britton, Peter L. (June 1997). "Winter Mixed Flocks at Charters Towers, North Queensland". The Sunbird. 27 (2): 29–37.
  32. doi:10.1071/MU949009
    .
  33. ^ a b Higgins et al. p. 656.
  34. ^ Boles, p. 90.
  35. ^ a b c Coventry, P.P. (1988). "Notes on the breeding behaviour of the Red-capped Robin Petroica goodenovii". Australian Bird Watcher. 12: 209–16.
  36. JSTOR 2655868
    .
  37. S2CID 86704265
    . Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  38. S2CID 84296716
    .
  39. ISBN 0-646-42798-9
    .
  40. ^ Higgins et al. p. 657.
  41. S2CID 22241555
    .
  42. S2CID 84037410
    .
  43. ISBN 0-643-05115-5
    .
  44. ^ a b c Higgins et al. p. 654.

Cited Texts

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Petroica goodenovii.
Wikispecies has information related to Petroica goodenovii.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red-capped_robin&oldid=1180790048"