Rose Robin
Encyclopedia
The Rose Robin is a small passerine
bird
native to Australia
. Like many brightly coloured robins of the Petroicidae
it is sexually dimorphic
. The male has a distinctive pink breast. Its upperparts are dark grey with white frons, and its tail black with white tips. The underparts and shoulder are white. The female is an undistinguished grey-brown. The robin has a small black bill and eyes.
It is endemic to Australia
east or south of the Great Dividing Range
, from Queensland through to southeastern South Australia. Its natural habitat
s are the gullies and valleys of temperate forest
s and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
or the American Robin
, but belongs rather to the Corvida
parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines including pardalotes, Fairy-wrens
and honeyeaters as well as crow
s. It belongs to the genus Petroica
, whose Australian members are known colloquially as "Red Robins" as distinct from the "Yellow Robins" of the genus Eopsaltria
. It was first described be ornithologist John Gould
in 1840, with its specific epithet derived from the Latin
roseus 'pink'. Testing of the nuclear and mitochondiral DNA of Australian members of the genus Petroica suggests the Rose and Pink Robin
s are each other's closest relative within the genus.
east of the Great Dividing Range
through eastern New South Wales and Victoria into southeastern South Australia. It does not occur in Tasmania. It is found in wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest, where it inhabits gullies and valleys, dispersing to drier forest in cooler months. The Rose Robin is vulnerable to development and clearing of forested areas, which has led to it disappearing in these areas. Populations have been recorded in conservation areas, namely the Dandenong and Scotchmans and Gardiners Creek Corridors, in Melbourne
's eastern suburbs.
s, flies and ants.
s, feathers and fur are used for binding/filling, while lichen is placed on the nest exterior. The nest is generally situated in the fork of a large tree some 10–20 m (30–60 ft) above the ground. Two or three dull white eggs tinted bluish, greyish or brownish and splotched with dark grey-brown are laid measuring 17 mm x 13 mm. The Rose Robin has been parasitised by the Pallid-
(Cuculus pallidus), Brush-
(Cacomantis variolosus) and Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoos (Chrysococcyx basalis).
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
native to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Like many brightly coloured robins of the Petroicidae
Petroicidae
The bird family Petroicidae includes roughly 45 species in about 15 genera. All are endemic to Australasia: New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and numerous Pacific Islands as far east as Samoa. For want of an accurate common name, the family is often called the Australasian robins. Within the...
it is sexually dimorphic
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
. The male has a distinctive pink breast. Its upperparts are dark grey with white frons, and its tail black with white tips. The underparts and shoulder are white. The female is an undistinguished grey-brown. The robin has a small black bill and eyes.
It is endemic to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
east or south of the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
, from Queensland through to southeastern South Australia. Its natural habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
s are the gullies and valleys of temperate forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
Taxonomy
Like all Australian Robins, the Rose Robin is not closely related to either the European RobinEuropean Robin
The European Robin , most commonly known in Anglophone Europe simply as the Robin, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family , but is now considered to be an Old World flycatcher...
or the American Robin
American Robin
The American Robin or North American Robin is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. It is named after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely related, with the European robin belonging to the flycatcher family...
, but belongs rather to the Corvida
Corvida
The "Corvida" were one of two "parvorders" contained within the suborder Passeri, as proposed in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy. Standard taxonomic practice would place them at the rank of infraorder....
parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines including pardalotes, Fairy-wrens
Maluridae
The Maluridae are a family of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens of the Northern Hemisphere...
and honeyeaters as well as crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
s. It belongs to the genus Petroica
Petroica
Petroica is a genus of Australasian robins, named due to their red and pink markings. They are not closely related to the European Robin nor the American robin...
, whose Australian members are known colloquially as "Red Robins" as distinct from the "Yellow Robins" of the genus Eopsaltria
Eopsaltria
Eopsaltria is a genus of small forest passerines known in Australia as the Yellow Robins. They belong to the Australasian Robin family Petroicidae. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek for "dawn singer/song" because of their dawn chorus. They are inquisitive and bold birds, and have been...
. It was first described be ornithologist John Gould
John Gould
John Gould was an English ornithologist and bird artist. The Gould League in Australia was named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
in 1840, with its specific epithet derived from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
roseus 'pink'. Testing of the nuclear and mitochondiral DNA of Australian members of the genus Petroica suggests the Rose and Pink Robin
Pink Robin
The Pink Robin is a small passerine bird native to southeastern Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Like many brightly coloured robins of the Petroicidae family, it is sexually dimorphic...
s are each other's closest relative within the genus.
Description
Adult birds are around 11 cm (4 in) in length. The male Rose Robin has a pink breast and abdomen, with dark grey head, throat, back and tail, with a white frons and outer tail shafts. There is no white wing bar. The female is plain-coloured; pale grey-brown above, and a grey-white underneath, with small white marks on wings and over the bill. The bill, legs and eyes are black. Both the male and female make a tick call.Distribution and habitat
The Rose Robin occurs in eastern and southeastern Australia, from RockhamptonRockhampton, Queensland
Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
east of the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
through eastern New South Wales and Victoria into southeastern South Australia. It does not occur in Tasmania. It is found in wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest, where it inhabits gullies and valleys, dispersing to drier forest in cooler months. The Rose Robin is vulnerable to development and clearing of forested areas, which has led to it disappearing in these areas. Populations have been recorded in conservation areas, namely the Dandenong and Scotchmans and Gardiners Creek Corridors, in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
's eastern suburbs.
Behaviour
Found in ones or twos, birds tend to feed in the tops of trees. Insects and spiders form the bulk of the diet, with most being caught while the robin is flying. Unlike other robins, the Rose Robin does not return to the same branch while foraging. Prey consists of a variety of spiders and insects, including caterpillars, wasps, bugs such as cicadas and cinch bugs, beetles such as jewel beetles, leaf beetles, leaf-eating beetles and weevilWeevil
A weevil is any beetle from the Curculionoidea superfamily. They are usually small, less than , and herbivorous. There are over 60,000 species in several families, mostly in the family Curculionidae...
s, flies and ants.
Breeding
Breeding season is September to January with one or two broods raised. The nest is a neat, deep cup made of bits of moss and fern. Spider webSpider web
A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....
s, feathers and fur are used for binding/filling, while lichen is placed on the nest exterior. The nest is generally situated in the fork of a large tree some 10–20 m (30–60 ft) above the ground. Two or three dull white eggs tinted bluish, greyish or brownish and splotched with dark grey-brown are laid measuring 17 mm x 13 mm. The Rose Robin has been parasitised by the Pallid-
Pallid Cuckoo
The Pallid Cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family.It is found in Australia, Christmas Island, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea....
(Cuculus pallidus), Brush-
Brush Cuckoo
The Brush Cuckoo, Cacomantis variolosus, is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis, and the Hoatzin....
(Cacomantis variolosus) and Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoos (Chrysococcyx basalis).