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Scarlet robin
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<h2 id="taxonomy">Taxonomy</h2> <p>There are three recognised subspecies of <i>Petroica boodang</i>: the nominate subspecies <i>P.b.boodang</i> is found in mainland southeastern Australia; <i>P.b.leggii</i> is found in Tasmania and Flinders Island in the Bass Strait; and <i>P.b.campbelli</i> occurs in southwestern Western Australia.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="description">Description</h2> <p>Like the rest of the Australasian robins, the scarlet robins are stocky <a href="/facts/Passerine/qby0MANo">passerines</a> with large heads. They range in size from 12 to 13.5 cm in length and weigh between 12 and 14 <a href="/facts/Gram/sRSW5RJb">g</a>. The <a href="/facts/Plumage/7QrTsra5">plumage</a> is <a href="/facts/Sexual_dimorphism/nx9wulFy">sexually dimorphic</a>. The males have black heads, backs and tails, black and white wings, a <a href="/facts/Scarlet_(color)/u8E1bINe">scarlet</a> red breast, and white belly, forehead and rump. The female matches the male in pattern, but is duller, with brown plumage instead of black, a much more washed-out red on the breast, and a buff belly. Juvenile birds resemble the female without the reddish wash on the breast.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="distribution-movements-and-habitat">Distribution, movements and habitat</h2> <p>The scarlet robin is <a href="/facts/Endemism/xt4IpIsl">endemic</a> to <a href="/facts/Australia/qLHpbppq">Australia</a>, where it is found near the coast from southern <a href="/facts/Queensland/lXBlIeY3">Queensland</a> to central <a href="/facts/South_Australia/R7UdxV97">South Australia</a>, <a href="/facts/Tasmania/q3dubPTt">Tasmania</a> and southwest <a href="/facts/Western_Australia/1ouCbwNh">Western Australia</a>. The species is mostly sedentary over its range, but some mainland populations undergo small local movements in the autumn and winter, either to more open habitats or to lower elevations.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p><p>The scarlet robin is most commonly found in <a href="/facts/Eucalyptus/Y0BjE3KQ">eucalyptus</a> woodland and forest, from sea level to 1000 m, particularly the more open habitats with grassy and shrubby understories. During the winter, more open environments, including urban habitats, are frequented. </p> <h2 id="behaviour">Behaviour</h2> <p>The scarlet robin feeds on arthropods, such as <a href="/facts/Insect/IgDNvnUL">insects</a> and spiders.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> It adjusts its foraging behaviour seasonally, feeding mostly on the ground during the winter, but during the summer and spring prey is more commonly snatched from bark and foliage.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p> <h3>Breeding biology</h3> <p>The scarlet robin is a <a href="/facts/Territory_(animal)/T15S7XeD">territorial</a> and <a href="/facts/Monogamy_in_animals/AvmMepzc">monogamous</a> species, and defends its nesting territories both from others of the same species and from pairs of the related <a href="/facts/Flame_robin/zGom8Y1N">flame robin</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> Territories are established and breeding commences before the <a href="/facts/Bird_migration/GvraPhgn">migratory</a> flame robin arrives in its range (where the two co-occur).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> Both the male and the female participate in selecting the <a href="/facts/Bird_nest/8pU1Fxf0">nesting site</a>, but only the female constructs the nest, a task which takes four to ten days.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> The <a href="/facts/Clutch_(eggs)/suAybckh">clutch</a> size is between one and four eggs, with three being the average. The eggs are grey, green or pale blue, and marked with brown to olive-brown splotches and spots, usually concentrated around the large end. Only the females <a href="/facts/Avian_incubation/E6sRJBSn">incubate</a> the eggs, and the males feed the females on the nest.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> The chicks hatch after 14 to 18 days. At first, they are brooded by the female and fed by the male; when brooding ends, they are fed by both parents.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> Nesting success is generally low, between 8 and 40%. Scarlet robin nests are raided by snakes, and they are victims of <a href="/facts/Brood_parasite/BIFuJnMb">brood parasitism</a> by various species of <a href="/facts/Cuckoo/RTlWBaKq">cuckoo</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="gallery">Gallery</h2> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/List_of_Australasian_birds/JJqzdRNC">List of Australasian birds</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/List_of_Western_Australian_birds/WrCaYbKc">List of Western Australian birds</a></li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> Wikimedia Commons has media related to Petroica boodang. <ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060103084004/http://canberrabirds.org.au/scarlet%20robin.htm">Birds of Canberra Gardens website's Scarlet Robin page</a>, canberrabirds.org.au</li> <li><a href="http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/scarlet-robin-petroica-boodang">Scarlet Robin videos on the Internet Bird Collection</a>, lynxeds.com</li> <li><a href="http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Petroica-multicolor">Birds in Backyards' Scarlet Robin page</a>, birdsinbackyards.net</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Schodde R, Mason IJ (1999). The Directory of Australian Birds: Passerines. A Taxonomic and Zoogeographic Atlas of the Biodiversity of Birds in Australia and its Territories. Collingwood, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. p. x 851 pp. ISBN 0-643-06456-7. <a href="0-643-06456-7" target="_blank">0-643-06456-7</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Gill, F. and D. Donsker, eds. (2020). IOC World Bird List (v 10.1). doi:10.14344/IOC.ML.10.1. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Boles, W (2007) "Family Petroicidae (Australasian Robins)" in del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. and Christie D. (editors). (2007). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Editions. ISBN 978-84-96553-42-2 pp. 482–483 <a href="/wiki/Handbook_of_the_Birds_of_the_World" target="_blank">/wiki/Handbook_of_the_Birds_of_the_World</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Boles, W (2007) "Family Petroicidae (Australasian Robins)" in del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. and Christie D. (editors). (2007). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Editions. ISBN 978-84-96553-42-2 pp. 482–483 <a href="/wiki/Handbook_of_the_Birds_of_the_World" target="_blank">/wiki/Handbook_of_the_Birds_of_the_World</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Boles, W (2007) "Family Petroicidae (Australasian Robins)" in del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. and Christie D. (editors). (2007). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Editions. ISBN 978-84-96553-42-2 pp. 482–483 <a href="/wiki/Handbook_of_the_Birds_of_the_World" target="_blank">/wiki/Handbook_of_the_Birds_of_the_World</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Robinson, D (1992). "Habitat use and foraging behaviour of the scarlet robin and the flame robin at a site of breeding-season sympatry". Wildlife Research. 19 (4): 377–395. doi:10.1071/WR9920377. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Robinson, D (1989). "Interspecific Aggression and Territorial Behavior Between Scarlet Robin Petroica multicolor and Flame Robin P. phoenicea". Emu. 89 (2): 93–101. doi:10.1071/MU9890093. <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/MU9890093" target="_blank">http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/MU9890093</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Robinson, D (1989). "Interspecific Aggression and Territorial Behavior Between Scarlet Robin Petroica multicolor and Flame Robin P. phoenicea". Emu. 89 (2): 93–101. doi:10.1071/MU9890093. <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/MU9890093" target="_blank">http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/MU9890093</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Robinson, D (1990). "The Nesting Ecology of Sympatric Scarlet Robin Petroica multicolor and Flame Robin Petroica phoenicea Populations in Open Eucalypt Forest". Emu. 90 (1): 40–52. doi:10.1071/MU9900040. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Robinson, D (1990). "The Nesting Ecology of Sympatric Scarlet Robin Petroica multicolor and Flame Robin Petroica phoenicea Populations in Open Eucalypt Forest". Emu. 90 (1): 40–52. doi:10.1071/MU9900040. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Boles, W (2007) "Family Petroicidae (Australasian Robins)" in del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. and Christie D. (editors). (2007). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Editions. ISBN 978-84-96553-42-2 pp. 482–483 <a href="/wiki/Handbook_of_the_Birds_of_the_World" target="_blank">/wiki/Handbook_of_the_Birds_of_the_World</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Boles, W (2007) "Family Petroicidae (Australasian Robins)" in del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. and Christie D. (editors). (2007). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits and Chickadees. Lynx Editions. ISBN 978-84-96553-42-2 pp. 482–483 <a href="/wiki/Handbook_of_the_Birds_of_the_World" target="_blank">/wiki/Handbook_of_the_Birds_of_the_World</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>