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Emblema
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Painted Firetail Emblema pictum Scientific name definitions

Robert B. Payne and Eduardo de Juana
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated June 18, 2014

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

11 cm; 9·6-11·5 g. Male has red forehead and face, brown rear ear-­coverts; crown to back and upperwing brown, rump and uppertail-coverts red, tail blackish-brown some rectrices with red on outer fringes; throat red with black feather margins, breast black, belly red in mid-line, sides of breast, belly and flanks black with white spots and bars, the spots small on breast and large on flanks, undertail-coverts black; iris dark brown, often with whitish outer rim, eyering grey; bill long, slender, black above with red tip and sometimes along culmen, red below with whitish to pale bluish base; legs fleshy-pink. Female is similar to male, but red on face normally restricted to lores, cheek and stripe over eye, throat black with white spots, belly black, bill with red of upper mandible only ever at tip. Juvenile is like female, but duller and browner above, duller below, lacks red on face, has mottled spots on side of breast and flanks, bill black, paler (becoming pinkish) on lower mandible.

Systematics History

Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Arid and semi-arid country (mainly N of Tropic of Capricorn) discontinuously in Western Australia (mainly Kimberley Division and Pilbara Region S to Carnarvon), Northern Territory (mainly Tennant Creek S to Uluru), W Queensland (E to Mt Isa and Longreach) and South Australia (mainly around L Eyre, L Torrens and L Frome, and Flinders Ranges); casual breeding in New South Wales (1).

Habitat

Arid and semi-arid areas, stone deserts, gorges, gulleys and rocky hills with scrub acacia (Acacia) or Triodia spinifex grassland, also orchards; usually near water, and occurs far inland in dry Australia when water available.

Movement

Resident; in years of exceptional inland rain, may spread hundreds of kilometres S of usual range.

Diet and Foraging

Seeds of grasses, mainly spinifex grass; occasionally fruit, and blades of grass; in captivity, takes insects as a large part of diet. Feeds mostly on ground, and spends much time in spinifex clumps; gleans seeds from ground, among grass tussocks and rocks. Forages in pairs and in small flocks, much time on ground.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Call a loud, harsh "trut, chek-chek", and "ced up, cheddy-up". Song a wheezy chattering "che-che-che-che-che-che-chewerreeeeee-oweeeeee", sometimes ending with "cheeurr cheeurr".

Breeding

Breeds at almost any time of year, eggs recorded in all months except Nov–Dec; in Western Australia, breeds mainly Apr and Jul in Kimberley Division and Mar–Sept in Pilbara region; in Northern Territory, mainly Jun–Sept, but also Jan–Jul; in Queensland, Jan, Mar–May and Jul–Oct; and in South Australia, Jul–Dec. Male courts on ground, also on perch; in first part of display male and female pick up twigs, rootlets or small stones and drop them again (occasionally display with nest symbol), each twists tail towards the other, then singing male hops to female, sings in upright posture, feathers of head and belly fluffed, he pivots head, sometimes holding grass in bill, and bobs up and down. Before building nest, the bird prepares a platform of small stones, bits of earth, charcoal or twigs on ground. Nest a compact ball with side entrance, made from grass, stems and rootlets, lined with soft material including plant down, hairy seeds and fronds of ferns, well concealed, often in clump of spinifex grass near ground, occasionally on ground. Clutch 3–5 eggs; incubation from last egg, period 13–14 days; hatchling naked, skin pinkish, gape has inconspicuously swollen flange marked inside with thin black line (barely visible in fledged young), inside mouth two black parallel streaks on anterior end of upper mandible, whitish palate has thin long black bar or chevron in front of a raised white crest and two small black spots, tongue has black ring and black tip, and under it a black crescent; nestling period 21–25 days; young fed by parents for a further 2 weeks, begin to display courtship behaviour at age of 10 weeks.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern

Not globally threatened. Considered to vary from locally fairly common to uncommon; widespread in inland and other arid and semi-arid areas. Occasional records well outside normal range; several records in NW New South Wales since 1977, including a breeding case c. Menindee in Sept 2007 (2).

Distribution of the Painted Firetail - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
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Distribution of the Painted Firetail

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Payne, R. B. and E. de Juana (2020). Painted Firetail (Emblema pictum), 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.paifir1.01
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