Endangered
Forty-spotted Pardalote
Pardalotus quadragintus
The forty-spotted pardalote is one of Australia's rarest birds and by far the rarest pardalote, being confined to a few colonies in the south-east corner of Tasmania, mainly on Maria Island and Bruny Island.
Appearance
A small, energetic passerine about 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 4 in) long, the forty-spot is similar to the much commoner spotted pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus), but has a dull greenish-brown back and head, compared to the more colourful plumage of the latter, with that it shares its range, and there is no brow line. The rump is olive, the under-tail dull yellow. The chest is white with light yellow tints.
Published measurements include mass about 10.7.
Range and habitat
The forty-spotted pardalote is as of September 2021 found reliably only in a few isolated colonies on south-eastern Tasmania, most notably on Maria Island and Bruny Island. In 2009 there were 450 individuals on Bruny Island and 974 on Maria Island. The birds are found almost exclusively in dry eucalypt forests with high concentration of the Eucalyptus viminalis (white gum), where it forages almost exclusively.
The forty-spotted pardalote is one of Australia's rarest birds and by far the rarest pardalote, being confined to a few colonies in the south-east corner of Tasmania, mainly on Maria Island and Bruny Island.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Forty-spots form pairs and are territorial during the breeding season, but may form small flocks during the winter.
In crisis
In the 17 years prior to 2010/2011, there had been a decrease of up to 60% in overall population. It is listed by the IUCN as endangered, because of its very small range, its highly fragmented distribution and its very small breeding area. Threats include land clearing for sheep farming, low rainfall linked to climate change. Bushfires; competitors such as noisy miners and striated pardalotes; predators such as the (introduced) laughing kookaburras, and the native parasitic fly Passeromyia longicornis.
Forty-spotted Pardalote is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Forty-spotted Pardalote, Wikidata item Q939963. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
