The Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus) is the least colourful and most common of the four pardalote

Pardalote

Pardalotes or peep-wrens are a family, Pardalotidae, of very small, brightly coloured birds native to Australia, with short tails, strong legs, and stubby blunt beaks. This family is composed of four species in one genus, Pardalotus, and several subspecies. The name derives from a Greek word...

 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

. Other common names include Pickwick, Wittachew and Chip-Chip. It is a very small, short-tailed bird that is more often heard than seen, foraging noisily for lerp

Lerp (biology)

In biology, a lerp is a structure of crystallized honeydew produced by larvae of psyllid insects as a protective cover.-Host plants:Some of the host plants on which lerp is often found include:* Eucalyptus dumosa...

s and other small creatures in the treetops.

Taxonomy

Four full species were originally named, and are clearly recognisable in the field. They are now classified as merely well-defined subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 instead.

• The Yellow-tipped Pardalote (race striatus) is, found mainly in Tasmania
  Tasmania
  Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
  
  , but crosses the 200 miles of Bass Strait
  Bass Strait
  Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
  
   to the mainland each winter in a migration.
• The Striated Pardalote, race substriatus, central and western Australia.
• The Eastern Striated or Red-tipped Pardalote, race ornatus, from the sub-tropical east coast, including the Sydney
  Sydney
  Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
  
   region.
• Two races of the Black-headed Pardalote, melanocephalus and uropygialis, from north-eastern New South Wales
  New South Wales
  New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
  
   to north-eastern Queensland
  Queensland
  Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
  
  , and across the Top End
  Top End
  The Top End of northern Australia is the second northernmost point on the continent. It covers a rather vaguely-defined area of perhaps 400,000 square kilometres behind the northern coast from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin across to Arnhem Land with the Indian Ocean on the west, the...
  
   to the Kimberley
  Kimberley region of Western Australia
  The Kimberley is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northern part of Western Australia, bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts, and on the east by the Northern Territory.The region...
  
  .

All five forms have a black cap which may be striated but never spotted, a white wing stripe and a small, conspicuous wing spot—bright red in all except striatus, which has a yellow spot.

Description

The Striated Pardalote's plumage varies considerably across its range. The crown is black, with subspeces substriatus, striatus and ornatus having white streaks. The eyebrow is white, starting with a yellow mark near the beak. All races have a white stripe on the wing and olive backs. The nominate race has a yellow spot on the wing, whilst the other subspecies have a red dot. The male and female are similar, juveniles have duller plumage. Similar species include the Spotted Pardalote

Spotted Pardalote

The Spotted Pardalote is one of the smallest of all Australian birds at 8 to 10 cm in length, and one of the most colourful; it is sometimes known as the Diamondbird...

 and the Red-browed Pardalote

Red-browed Pardalote

The Red-browed Pardalote occupies the northern two-thirds of Australia. It is a fraction larger than the Forty-spotted Pardalote, at 10 to 12 cm, and is the least conspicuously coloured, being paler and combining the spotted skull-cap of the Spotted Pardalote with the striped wings of the Striated...

.

Distribution and habitat

Striated Pardalotes occupy a vast range of 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...

 types from tall mountain rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 to arid scrubland, and are found in all parts of 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...

 except some of the Western Australian desert

Desert

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

s.

Feeding

Striated Pardalotes feed on insects and insect larvae. They usually do so in the high foliage of eucalypt trees, but may come closer to the ground where there are lower shrubs.

Breeding

Breeding occurs from June to February. Two to five white, oval eggs are laid in a nest is made of bark fibre, rootlets and fine grass, and placed in tree hollow, a tunnel excavated in the side of a bank or within crevices in man made objects. Both sexes incubate and care for the young.

External links

• Striated Pardalote videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection.