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Home > Native Plants & Animals > Animals of Tasmania > Birds > Forty Spotted Pardalote

Forty Spotted Pardalote

One of the smallest birds in Australia, the endemic forty-spotted pardalote (Pardalotus quadragintus) is threatened with extinction (see Threatened Species List for listing statement and recovery plan).

The forty-spotted pardalote belongs to a group known as 'diamond birds' because of their tiny, jewel-like appearance. Measuring about 9 - 10 cm, the body is light olive green with pale yellow around the eye and on the rump. The wings are black with distinctive white dots. Unlike its close relative, the spotted pardalote, there are no head markings.

Forty-spotted pardalotes live in dry eucalypt forests and woodlands only where white gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) occurs. They feed on a variety of insects, and also lerps (a protective insect coating) and manna, a sugary secretion produced by the tree in response to insect attack. The birds are called 'foliage gleaners' because of the way they pick the insects from the leaves and branches.

The call is a low pitched 'where...where...where...where'.
Please note: the call is of the male during the breeding season.

For further information, see also:

Forty-spotted pardalote video

Tasmania Online | Service Tasmania

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