The striated pardalote - a cute Australian bird with a short tail
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (342077)
Rockingham, Australia
December 12, 2021 1:17am CST
I put up a photo of a little bird coming out of a hanging basket. It and its partner have made their nest inside in the patio area of my brother-in-law’s house. The bird is a striated pardalote (Pardalotus striatus). This photo is courtesy Fir0002, GFDL 1.2 via Wikimedia Commons and what a great photo it is. As you can see, the bird is a mix of neutral colours with some black and yellow thrown in.
They feed on insects and insect larvae and the ones I watched flitted back and forth over and over making me feel sure they were feeding babies. They lay 2 to 5 white eggs either in a tree hollow, a tunnel excavated in the side of a bank or within crevices in man-made objects, as these two have done. Both incubate and care for the young.
I’m sure my brother-in-law will be watching closely hoping to see the young birds emerge.
14 people like this
16 responses
@crossbones27 (49723)
• Mojave, California
12 Dec 21
Nice looking little hard workers there. Very cool pic. Sounds like a neat little bird.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (49723)
• Mojave, California
12 Dec 21
@JudyEv Hell yeah they did. Is that someone you know who took took that you said brother in law maybe him. Very cool and I always love the eyes of any animal. Windows to the soul and that bird just has a neat eye look like I live my life right.
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
@crossbones27 Credit is given in the first para: This photo is courtesy Fir0002, GFDL 1.2 via Wikimedia Commons
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@DocAndersen (54402)
• United States
12 Dec 21
as always - awesome picture!!!
what an interesting bird. I suspect they don't fly long distances?
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Dec 21
@DocAndersen That makes sense. Good thinking.
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@DocAndersen (54402)
• United States
13 Dec 21
@JudyEv interesting - birds with shorter tails tend towards shorter flights, the tail feathers help when working with wind! (more stability)!
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@allen0187 (58582)
• Philippines
12 Dec 21
I'm sure your brother-in-law is excited to see the new young birds.
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@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
12 Dec 21
A very cute bird indeed! And hopefully not as much trouble causing or filth causing as our daily visiting pigeons who seem to have outnumbered almost all other birds like Mynahs, Sparrows etc.
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@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
12 Dec 21
@JudyEv
Till a few years back, we used to be joyous at watching them. Now they are becoming almost like pests. We had to spend on Nets in two places due to the mess they created and might need even one more.
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@ptrikha_2 (47064)
• India
13 Dec 21
@JudyEv
And Pigeon netting has become a business by itself here.
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@averygirl72 (37845)
• Philippines
16 Dec 21
This is a cute bird. I like the it's white color with accent of yellow and black
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@JudyEv (342077)
• Rockingham, Australia
12 Dec 21
He is very fond of the birds that visit his garden.