Yellow Chat Epthianura crocea Scientific name definitions

11–12 cm; 7–10 g. Distinctive yellowish chat. Male nominate race in breeding plumage is unmistakable: has most of head and neck orange-yellow or bright yellow with narrow black loral stripe; yellow-olive nape, hindneck and mantle to rump, with fine brown streaks on mantle, back and scapulars; uppertail-coverts orange-yellow; upperwing dark brown, wing-coverts with narrow yellow or yellow-white fringes (forming pair of obvious wingbars on median and greater coverts), tertials with broad white fringes, primaries and secondaries with narrow yellow outer edges and narrow white fringes at tips; rectrices black-brown, central pair with narrow yellow fringes, remaining pairs with narrow white tips and yellow outer edges; underbody orange-yellow or bright yellow, distinctive black crescent across centre of upper breast; underwing-coverts and axillaries yellow-white; iris whitish, cream or light brownish-grey; bill, gape and legs black to grey-black or brownish. Male non-breeding is similar to breeding-plumaged male, but differs in having olive-grey ground colour on top of head, neck and upperparts (to rump), yellowish-white face, ear-coverts and narrow supercilium, no black loral stripe; below, paler yellow or whitish with scattered yellow patches, with diffuse blackish or dark brown crescent or small smudge on upper breast; bill paler grey or pinkish-brown at base. Female is similar to non-breeding male, but lacks dark breast mark; differs from very similar female E. aurifrons mainly in pale iris, whitish (not brownish) fringes of median and greater upperwing-coverts, olive-grey (rather than greyish-brown) head top, ear-coverts and most of upperparts. Juvenile is very similar to female, but iris greyish and gape yellow; immature probably difficult to separate from adult. Race tunneyi in breeding plumage is similar to nominate, but yellow or yellow-orange colour richer, and male has slightly broader black crescent across breast; macgregori is apparently similar to nominate, but breeding male has darker yellowish-olive upperparts with streaks obscure, richer yellow-orange underparts, broader black breast-crescent.

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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.

Low vegetation surrounding ephemeral wetlands, including samphire and freshwater swamps, bore overflows, saltlakes, sewage ponds and floodplains, in arid, semi-arid and tropical regions; sometimes in open acacia (Acacia) or eucalypt (Eucalyptus) woodlands with lignum (Muehlenbeckia), grassy or chenopod understorey. In NW Australia, has been recorded in tall Sporobolus grasslands associated with semi-permanent subcoastal wetlands; in N tropics, occasionally occurs at edges of mangrove stands.

Not understood. Probably largely nomadic, and locally and/or seasonally common at some localities in Kimberley region of Western Australia; thought to be resident at some locations, e.g. Roebuck Plains (Western Australia) and Coorabulka Station (SW Queensland). Leaves wetlands and bore overflows as they dry out.

Food mainly insects, including ants (of family Formicidae), beetles (of family Chrysomelidae), moths and caterpillars (Lepidoptera) and flies (Diptera); also arachnids. Often forages on wet ground, and also in small shrubs and grasses. Forages singly or in small flocks; sometimes in mixed-species parties, including those with E. aurifrons.

Song, often given by male when perched, a high-pitched “tee-tsu-tee” or “pee-ee”, individual notes varying in pitch; metallic “tee-tee-tee” by male in display-flight. Occasional other calls include nasal “nang”, and churring notes during broken-wing display.

Recorded in all months except Feb, Aug and Sept. Little information on bonds and breeding behaviour. Nest a small cup made of grasses or fine stems, and sometimes spider egg sacs or feathers, lined with fine rootlets, feathers, hair and spider egg sacs; placed up to 1·2 m above ground in clump of grass or sedge, low shrub or lignum, sometimes in flooded area. Clutch 3 eggs; no information on incubation period; young fed by both sexes, nestling period 11–12 days.

Not globally threatened. Locally fairly common to rare; rarer and more locally distributed than other members of family. Some concern for certain populations. Nominate race considered “vulnerable” in Queensland and “rare” in South Australia, and there are unconfirmed records of this race from inland New South Wales; sinking of artesian bores may have resulted in expansion of range to SW Queensland since 1890s; historical records from Gulf of Carpentaria region, but not recorded there since 1930s. E Queensland race macgregori “critically endangered”; thought to be extinct after c. 1917, but recorded on Curtis I in 1993, and more recently from several mainland sites in Fitzroy River Basin and Broad Sound, N of Rockhampton; no published breeding records of this race, and fieldwork is required. Race tunneyi is considered “endangered” in Northern Territory. Excessive grazing by livestock, as well as weed infestation, may adversely affect populations of this species.