Spotted Pardalote

About the Spotted Pardalote

The spotted pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus) is a small passerine bird native to eastern and southern Australia, at elevations of up to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). It is part of the pardalote family, Pardalotidae. One of the smallest of all Australian birds at 8 to 10 centimetres (3.1 to 3.9 in) in length, and one of the most colourful; it is sometimes known as the diamondbird. Although moderately common in all of the reasonably fertile parts of Australia (the east coast, the south-east, and the south-west corner) it is seldom seen closely enough to enable identification.

Three subspecies are recognised. The wet tropics spotted pardalote (subspecies militaris) is found in northeastern Queensland, while the distinctive subspecies, the yellow-rumped pardalote (subspecies xanthopyge), is mostly found in drier inland regions of southern Australia, particularly in semi-arid Mallee woodlands. Also occasionally found nesting in burrows in semi-rainforest areas inland from the coast in Mid North Coast NSW.

The spotted pardalote was described by English naturalist George Shaw and drawn by Frederick Polydore Nodder in the 1792 work The Naturalist's Miscellany: Or, Coloured Figures... Wikipedia →