Gouldian Finch Chloebia gouldiae Scientific name definitions

15 cm (including tail of 4 cm); 10·5-16 g. Male of black-headed morph (most common) has forehead, crown and face to upper throat black, black bordered with light blue , which grades into green on nape, green continuing to back and upperwing; rump and uppertail-coverts blue, tail, including long pointed central feathers, black; breast below blue band purple, lower breast yellow , shading to white on lower belly and undertail-coverts; iris dark brown, eyering pale bluish-grey; bill white with red tip in non-breeding season, more extensively dark grey in breeding season; legs pinkish. Male red-headed morph (rare) has forehead, crown and face red, narrowly outlined black in front of the blue border and over base of bill, black chin and upper throat; golden-headed morph (rare) is similar, but face golden-yellow (not red). Domesticated strains vary in face colour (red, black or yellow-orange) and in bill colour (red or yellow), as well as in other parts of plumage, depending on presence or absence of melanins and carotenoids. Female is similar to male in pattern, but duller and paler, with central tail feathers only slightly elongated; bill as in male, but becomes mainly dark grey in breeding condition. Juvenile  has head and face grey, back and wings greenish-grey, tail short, breast pinkish-buff, belly yellowish-white, bill black with pale pink base, eyering dark grey.

N Australia N of 20° S: in N Western Australia (Kimberley Division), N Northern Territory, and N Queensland (mainly at base of Cape York Peninsula).

Grassy open forest and woodlands in a mosaic of burnt and unburnt woodland in semi-arid regions, often near spear-grass (Sorghum); in wet season in patches of cockatoo grass (Alloteropsis semialata), golden beard grass (Chrysopogon fallax) and spinifex (Triodia); near water  . High densities of tree-cavities also required, since the species is an obligate cavity nester (1 Brazill-Boast, J., Dessmann, J.K., Davies, G.T.O., Pryke, S.R. and Griffith, S.C. (2011). Selection of breeding habitat by the endangered Gouldian Finch (Erythrura gouldiae) at two spatial scales. Emu. 111: 304–311. Close ). Breeding habitat in Western Australia and Northern Territory characterized by rocky hills with smooth-barked gums (Eucalyptus brevifolia or Eucalyptus tintinnans) within c. 2–4 km of water (small permanent water-holes or springs).

Resident, with short-distance dispersal from breeding areas in early wet season, after germination of Sorghum seeds. No evidence of N-S seasonal shifts in range. Radio-tracked individuals in non-breeding season moved 3–10 km during day between feeding areas and water sources.

Grass seeds , half-ripe and ripe, especially those of Sorghum, other seeds mainly in wet season (when Sorghum germinates); occasionally insects, mainly in wet season. Seeds taken both from seeding heads and on the ground. Alights on grass stems and moves up to seedhead; also jumps up and pulls stem to ground, where it holds stem under foot and takes seeds; also perches on branches over tall grasses to take seeds from seedheads. Social; occurs in small or large flocks; active in heat of the day. In tests with captive individuals, present species was likely to be dominated by Poephila acuticauda in interactions and exhibited lower levels of aggression when competing for access to food; this suggests a stable dominance relationship between the two which could be affecting present species’ access to food resources in the wild, possibly hindering its ability to recover from recent population declines (2 Brazill-Boast, J. (2013). Competition for resources mediated by intrinsic social dominance in sympatric finches. Ibis. 155(1): 189-193. Close ).

Close contact call "sit" or "ssit", singly or in series; distance contact call louder, usually in pairs, "ssit-ssit"; male gives nest call, "ssreeit", from nest or at nest-site. Song a complex series of high-pitched, continuous whispering, hissing and low-pitched clicking notes and a long, drawn-out whine.

Recorded in all months except Oct: May–Jun in Western Australia (Kimberley), Dec–Apr (late wet season) in Northern Territory, and Feb–Apr in N Queensland. Often loosely colonial, several pairs nesting in neighbouring trees or same tree. In courtship, birds fly about and give contact calls, or male approaches a perched female and, in horizontal posture with tail raised or in more erect posture, turns towards her and bows from upright posture, then takes upright posture with body drawn back, tarsal joint held below perch, fluffs feathers of face, head, and rump and purple feathers of breast; he lowers tail and angles it towards female, faces her, sings, and bobs up and down, sometimes jumping up from perch. In the field, mates preferentially with partner of same colour morph; offspring of mixed-morph pairs have lower survival (pre-hatching, juvenile, and adult), especially in case of females, owing to underlying genetic incompatibility. Nest a loosely formed open cup of dry grass, lined with softer grass, built in hole in hollow tree or in termitarium; occasionally uses old nest of other bird; in captivity, uses nestbox without lining it, or builds covered nest with entrance hole. Clutch 4–8 eggs; incubation by both sexes during day, by female at night, period 14–15 days; hatchling naked  , skin orange to pink, gape with large balls of opalescent blue with black base, one above and one below corner of mouth, a smaller yellow ball or swelling at gape, palate yellowish with ring of five black spots, upper bill tip with black mark on each side, inner mouth pink, tongue pink with two black spots above connected by black band below, and below it a black mouth or sublingual crescent; nestling  period 21–22 days; young fed by parents for a further 10–14 days.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. Scarce to uncommon, and local. Has suffered substantial decline as a result of habitat modification; decline now appears to have ceased (3 Garnett, S. T., J. K. Szabo, and G. Dutson (2011). The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. Close ), leading to reclassification in 2012 from Endangered to Near Threatened. Found mainly from Kimberley region of Western Australia E to N part of Northern Territory; scattered records in Cape York Peninsula through NW Queensland, where regular at only one locality. Population difficult to calculate, with flocks of 100–700+ being seen at multiple sites, >80% of which however are juveniles (3 Garnett, S. T., J. K. Szabo, and G. Dutson (2011). The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. Close ). Global population estimated at 2400 mature individuals, potentially falling to an annual minimum close to 1000 individuals at start of breeding season (3 Garnett, S. T., J. K. Szabo, and G. Dutson (2011). The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. Close ). More optimistic estimates put the figure closer to c. 10,000 mature individuals. Monitoring work near Katherine, in Northern Territory, revealed that population is stable; no evidence of decline during 2004–2007 at Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary, in C Kimberley. Main threats appear to be grazing and altered fire regimes. Grazing by livestock leads to changes in species composition and phenology of grasses, especially reduction in abundance of grass species that set seed earliest in wet season. Cattle, horses and feral pigs graze wet-season grasses that are vital to this estrildid, and cattle and buffalo (Bubalus) damage water-holes used by it by trampling and grazing of surrounding vegetation. Adverse effects of large herbivores probably exacerbated by current fire regimes in N Australia, which are dominated by frequent hot wildfires in late dry season over extensive tracts of terrain; fire has adverse impact on seed productivity of key wet-season grasses on which this species relies early in year (a period of food scarcity), and this finch tends to shun burnt tree hollows as nesting sites. Trapping may have had a local effect in the past. For a long time, it was believed that infection with a endo-parasitic mite (Sternostoma tracheacolum) was a principal reason for this species' decline, but such infection now thought more likely to indicate that these birds (and other granivorous species) were under stress owing to broader changes at landscape level; recent short-term increases may represent recovery after an epidemic of parasitization. Further, climate change likely to affect timing and quantity of wet-season rainfall, which could lead to increase in frequency or intensity of wildfires, thereby altering abundance of important grass species and changing availability of surface water during dry season. Cavity nest-sites may be an important and potentially limiting resource; competition for nest-sites with Long-tailed Finches (Poephila acuticauda) can reduce fledging success in Gouldian Finches by up to 57% (4 Brazill-Boast, J., van Rooij, E., Pryke, S.R. and Griffith, S.C. (2011). Interference from long-tailed finches constrains reproduction in the endangered Gouldian Finch. Journal of Animal Ecology. 80: 39–48. Close ). Management actions include implementation of a recovery plan, captive-breeding, detailed research on fire, food and the species' movements at Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary (Kimberley), maintenance of a database of sight records, and a review of patterns of distribution, habitats, potential threats and conservation status of granivorous savanna birds. Continued monitoring occurs at four sites. Listed as Endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Proposed measures include, among others, studies of response of grasses and birds to a variety of pastoral and fire-management regimes, encouragement for landholders to implement the most beneficial regimes, and control of feral herbivores; collaboration with Jawoyn Aboriginal Corporation in implementing fire regimes and control of feral herbivores; monitoring of populations at key sites throughout range.