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Masked Finch Poephila personata Scientific name definitions

Robert B. Payne
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated April 5, 2018

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

13 cm; 10·5-17 g. Nominate race has crown to back and upperwing brown, rump and uppertail-coverts white, long pointed tail black; forehead and lores to upper throat black, well demarcated from brown of crown, ear-coverts brown; throat and most of underparts buffy brown, black flank patch , centre of belly and undertail-coverts white; iris warm brown to dark brown, eyering dark grey; bill yellow; legs pink or orange to coral-red. Sexes alike. Juvenile has face mask brown, flanks brownish-grey, bill black. Race leucotis differs from nominate in having rear ear-coverts to lower throat silvery-white, back redder brown, crown darker than back, narrow black band across lower forehead merging into brown of crown, also smaller in wing, tail and bill.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Sometimes separated in a monotypic genus, Neopoephila. Races differ in morphology and plumage. Two subspecies recognized.

Subspecies

EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Masked Finch (Masked) Poephila personata personata Scientific name definitions

Poephila personata personata
P. p. personata

Distribution

Western Australia (from Kimberley Division) E to NW Queensland (SE Gulf of Carpentaria at lower Nicholson R).
EBIRD GROUP (MONOTYPIC)

Masked Finch (White-eared) Poephila personata leucotis Scientific name definitions

Poephila personata leucotis
P. p. leucotis

Distribution

N Queensland from Cape York Peninsula S to SE Gulf of Carpentaria (lower Norman R) and, in E, to Cairns area.

Distribution

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Habitat

Open woodland with good cover of small scrub and grass, on open grassy plains with a few bushes.

Movement

Resident, with some local movement; a few ringing recoveries at 10–100 km. In dry seasons appears in N coastal regions.

Diet and Foraging

Grass seeds, both ripe and half-ripe, especially of Sorghum; also some invertebrates, especially during breeding season. Nestling diet half-ripe seeds, also insects. Forages mostly on ground, taking seeds from ground in dry season and directly from seedheads in wet season; sometimes captures aerial insects. Gregarious, in small to large flocks; occurs in small flocks throughout year, and in very dry years hundreds and thousands gather together for food and water; regularly associates with P. acuticauda in Western Australia and Northern Territory, and in N Queensland forms large foraging flocks with P. cincta in dry season.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Distance contact call a loud "tiat"; soft contact call a soft "twat, twat"; nest call high-pitched whining notes; adults have 14 distinct calls given in different social contexts. Song soft, a short burst of nasal notes, given by bird next to mate, at start of courtship and during selection of nest-site. Calls and songs distinct from those of congeners: notes shorter and lower in pitch, notes within a song less phrased into repeated motifs, time between notes shorter, and notes have more complex harmonic structure. Songs differ among local populations, and each male has its own individually distinctive song phrase.

Breeding

Breeding after end of wet season, Feb–Jun in Western Australia (Kimberley), Nov–Jul in Northern Territory and Apr and Aug in Queensland. Generally in loose colonies, with 20–50 m between nests. A stem display is infrequent; in first phase of courtship, one bird lands within 10 cm of mate, adopts bill-up posture and turns tail and head towards mate, gives deep bow with head down towards mate, the two hop to and fro or around each other, with head-bobs and bill-wipes, turning head and angling tail towards partner; in second stage, male starts courtship dance in upright posture, jerks head upward, neck stretched up and then retracted, as he fluffs and displays black bib (sometimes holds a grass stem in bill in this display), he pivots body from side to side while his feet stay on perch; aspects of behaviour that lead to copulation are a greeting approach flight, hopping to and fro, and song. Nest construction takes several weeks, both male and female bringing material, nest bulky and globular, with side entrance, made with grass, lined with soft plant wool or feathers or fur, and with charcoal, placed in bush or tree, or in grass, or in termitarium in old nesting hole of parrot (Psittacidae) or kingfisher (Alcedinidae). Clutch 4–6 eggs; incubation from fourth egg, both sexes in nest at night, period 13–15 days; nestling skin dark pink with sparse down, gape-flange blue at hatching and white by fledging, black streaks on oral surfaces of gape, palate pale with short black bar in middle (extending a quarter of way to gape) and lateral bar on each side (markings forming broken line of five black bars), pair of black spots behind the three anterior black palate spots, pair of black spots on tongue and black V-mark under tongue; nestling period 20–23 days.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Widespread in much of N Australia; common to locally common. In N Northern Territory, recorded densities of 0·23 birds/ha at Yinberrie Hills (NW of Katherine) and 0·2 birds/ha at South Alligator R. In the past, was trapped in large numbers for trade, e.g. 1188 exported from Western Australia in 1957–1958 and 609 in first half of 1959; in Kimberley Division, legal trapping ceased in 1986.
Distribution of the Masked Finch - Range Map
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Distribution of the Masked Finch

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Payne, R. B. (2020). Masked Finch (Poephila personata), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.masfin1.01
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