This is the only species of firetail to be kept in zoos.
Diamond firetails have two calls: a “twooo-heeee” which is a contact call, and “tay tay tay” which is an alarm call. Their song is often described as a series of low-pitched, raspy, “buzzy” notes. When the young are just beginning to communicate the often learn the calls by mimicking their parents.
Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
The invasion of exotic grasses within the range of diamond firetails has made these areas more suitable for competing red-browed finches, which has put many of the diamond firetail populations at a disadvantage. Much of the land that diamond firetails once inhabited is turning into farmland which is reducing their numbers. As a result, this species now lives in restricted and scattered subpopulations, many of which continue to decline. They are commonly kept in captivity. The criteria that is used to determine their status is unknown. The IUCN considers diamond firetails endangered.
US Migratory Bird Act: no special status
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: near threatened
The only known adverse effects of the diamond firetail on humans is that they are occasionally seen as crop pests.
Negative Impacts: crop pest
Diamond firetails are commonly kept as pets. They can be of interest to tourists and conservationists because of their beauty and because they are an endangered species found only in Australia.
Positive Impacts: pet trade ; ecotourism
Diamond firetails feed on various grasses, herbs, and seeds and can act as seed disperses of the plants they feed on. They are also prey to hawks, owls and currowongs, although they do not constitute a significant portion of these predators diets.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds
Diamond firetails are granivorous, feeding primarily on ripe and partly ripe seeds of grasses and herbs. Diamond firetails also feed on green leaves of grasses and herbs, and on insects, especially during the breeding season.
Animal Foods: insects
Plant Foods: leaves; seeds, grains, and nuts
Primary Diet: herbivore (Granivore )
Diamond firetails are found from east-central to southeastern Australia, from the Carnarvon Ranges in Queensland to the Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island in South Australia.
Biogeographic Regions: australian (Native )
Diamond firetails are commonly found in grassy eucalypt woodlands, along rivers and creeks, occasionally in open forests, and sometimes in agricultural areas.
Range elevation: 0 to 300 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest ; scrub forest
Other Habitat Features: agricultural ; riparian
Both in and out of captivity diamond firetails live for five to seven years.
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 5 to 7 years.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 5 to 7 years.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 5 to 7 years.
Typical lifespan
Status: captivity: 5 to 7 years.
Adult males are brown above the wings, on the wings, and on the rump. The upper tail converts are a bright crimson while the tail feathers, forehead, and the crown of the head are black. The hind neck is ash gray, lores are black, throat white, the forehead and flanks are black. They have a white breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts. The bill and iris are red, while the legs and feet are dark gray. Adult females are usually smaller than males but are similar in appearance except that females have a narrow black band on the forehead and paler lores.
Average mass: 17 g.
Average length: 12 cm.
Average wingspan: 26 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: male larger; sexes colored or patterned differently
Hawks, owls, pied currowongs, humans, and other birds are all predators of diamond firetails.
Known Predators:
Diamond firetails often take time to accept a mate, but are loyal to their partner once the pair has bonded. This makes defending a mate rarely a problem. It is unknown how they select a mate, but some speculate that males choose a female based on how colorful her feathers are. During courtship a male holds a long piece of grass in his beak and bobs up and down while puffing out his chest. While the male is bobbing he emits a long raspy sound. If the female does not fly away while the male is performing this display, copulation will follow.
Mating System: monogamous
Diamond firetails generally breed twice a year. They breed in the spring and then again in the fall. They do not breed in exceptionally hot or cold weather. The breeding season for diamond firetails is from August to January. During this time individuals build a nest with an entrance tube up to 15 cm long. Nests are lined with fine grass and feathers and are usually located in trees or shrubs with dense foliage, or high in trees, often under hawk or raven nests. Females lay between four and nine eggs per clutch, and both parents incubate the eggs for 13 days on average. Diamond firetail young fledge at about thirty days. The young become independent two weeks after fledging. Juveniles gain their adult coloring fairly quickly and can breed after nine months.
Breeding interval: Diamond firetails breed twice a year.
Breeding season: Diamond firetails commonly breed in both the spring and fall (August and January).
Range eggs per season: 4 to 9.
Average eggs per season: 6.
Average time to hatching: 13 days.
Average fledging age: 30 days.
Average time to independence: 44 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 9 months.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 9 months.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
Males generally gather nest materials and females build nests. Both male and female parents take turns brooding the eggs. During daylight hours, each parent sits on the nest for approximately one and a half hours at a time. Often, when the male returns to the nest to relieve the female, he brings a present of a blade of grass or even a feather. At night, both the male and the female sit together in the nest. The young generally eat only half ripe seeds. When the young beg for food they lay their neck flat on the nest floor and turn only the gape upwards. During this begging, the chicks bills are wide open and their heads move from side to side in a lively manner.
Parental Investment: altricial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Male); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male)
The diamond firetail (Stagonopleura guttata) is a species of estrildid finch that is endemic to Australia. It has a patchy distribution and generally occupies drier forests and grassy woodlands west of the Great Dividing Range from South East Queensland to the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. While it is a small stocky bird it is one of the largest finches in Australia. The birds are very distinctive with a black breast-band on a white breast. The flanks are black with white spots and it has a scarlet rump (hence the name) and a black tail.
The family Estrildidae (grass-finches) was named by Swainson in 1827 and "finch" can be traced back to the Old English finc but its origin is debated. Firetail is now used to describe the three species of Stagonopleura. The red-browed finch (Neochmia temporalis) is no longer considered a firetail even though it has a red rump.[2]
The diamond firetail has also been known as the "spotted finch (Lewin 1808), spotted grossbeak (Lewin 1822), spotted-sided grossbeak (Latham 1823) and spotted- finch (Gould 1848)". The name diamond firetail was first used in the Royal Australian Ornithological Union (RAOU's) second official checklist in 1926.[2] Stagonopleura, is from the Greek for 'spotty flanks' and guttata from the Latin gutta, a 'droplet'.
The diamond firetail is one of the largest of the Australian finches by both weight (15–19 g) and wingspan (64–71 mm).[3] eBird describes the firetail having an olive back and grey head. The belly and throat are white with a complete black band. The flanks are black with distinctive white spots. The rump is bright red and the tip of the tail is black.[4] The rump is also described as scarlet by some authors.[3] Juvenile diamond firetails are duller than the adults and have a black bill.
The rump is very distinctive in flight. These birds are generally seen in pairs or small flocks, sometimes up to a hundred birds. The birds fly low and in long lines.[3][5]
The diamond firetail has a patchy distribution from Southeast Queensland to the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.[4] The Australian Bird Guide shows its core distribution from southern Queensland (just north in Inglewood) through to Victoria and around the coast to the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia and the eBird distribution is similar.[3] Birdlife Australia has a more extensive distribution from the Carnarvon Ranges in Queensland to the Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island which is broader than other references.[5] This broader distribution reflects the historic range of the bird based on the surveys done for The Atlas of Australian Birds.[6] The species was recorded as far north as the Kirrama Tableland in North Queensland in 1917, as a "new record for the district".[7]
The bird is mostly sedentary and lives in open grassy eucalypt forest and woodland, heath, mallee country, farmland and grassland with scattered trees. The bird's habitat has been threatened by alteration of vegetation structure caused by over-grazing, weed invasion, salinisation and other flow-on processes. This loss of main food plants and habitat results in competition with invasive species, and increased predation.[5]
Diamond firetails are ground feeders with a diet of grass seeds; ripe or partially ripe. They have also been observed eating insects and larvae. While feeding they will be seen hopping on the ground but if disturbed they will fly into nearby trees.[5]
The Slater Field Guide notes the voice is a penetrating twoo-hee or pain, while the Australian Bird Guide describes the contact call as a "drawn out, mournful whistle like descending call of black-eared cuckoo, though typically disyllabic, with first syllable ascending and second descending". They are generally silent in flight.[3][8]
Nests are built with green grass, leaves and stems then lined with feathers and fine grasses. Nests can be found in dense foliage such as "hakeas, rose bushes, boxthorn and the sharp-sounding Sea Urchin Hakea" and high in trees including within mistletoe and babblers' nests. It has also been known to build in hawks' nests. Birdlife Australia records "To safeguard their eggs and nestlings, diamond firetails are often recorded building their nests into the base of the large stick-nest of a bird of prey, such as a whistling kite, white-bellied sea-eagle, wedge-tailed eagle, brown falcon, nankeen kestrel or a square-tailed kite. One nest of a whistling kite contained nine diamond firetail nests!"[5]
The incubation and care for the young is done by both partners. Normally only one clutch of between 4 and 9 eggs is laid per season.[5][8]
The IUCN classifies the species as a vulnerable species.[9] Birdlife Australia list the species as secure nationally, vulnerable in NSW and SA but secure in Victoria.[5]
The striking plumage of the diamond firetails make them popular in aviculture. However, they are not particularly suited for inexperienced keepers as they are hard to breed, are assertive in behaviour, and are difficult to sex. In some Australian states, strict licensing requirements apply.[10]
There are few mutations in the diamond firetail. However, one mutation produces an orange tail instead of the fiery red. In this case the bird is known as the yellow diamond. Other mutations are the pied diamond which has splashes of white, the white diamond, and the fawn diamond.[11]
The birds will eat lettuce, spinach, chickweed, spray millet, eggfood, broccoli tops, sprouted seed, meal worms, small cockroaches, small crickets, hulled oats and carrot tops.[10][12]
Sundown NP, S Queensland, Australia
Lewin- spotted grossbeak 1819
Stagonopleura guttata, John Gerrard Keulemans, 1873
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Diamond firetail feeding
Auburn Botanical Gardens, NSW
The diamond firetail (Stagonopleura guttata) is a species of estrildid finch that is endemic to Australia. It has a patchy distribution and generally occupies drier forests and grassy woodlands west of the Great Dividing Range from South East Queensland to the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. While it is a small stocky bird it is one of the largest finches in Australia. The birds are very distinctive with a black breast-band on a white breast. The flanks are black with white spots and it has a scarlet rump (hence the name) and a black tail.
