{"id":1665,"date":"2023-09-12T22:47:11","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T22:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tanyaloos.com\/?p=1665"},"modified":"2024-01-12T23:20:51","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T23:20:51","slug":"spotting-a-spotted-pardalote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tanyaloos.com\/spotting-a-spotted-pardalote\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotting a Spotted Pardalote"},"content":{"rendered":"
These tiny birds are only 9-10 cm in length \u2013 about the length of your finger! Spotted Pardalotes are well named, as some of their feathers are covered in white spots.<\/p>\n
Spotted Pardalotes are usually high in the leaves and branches of gum trees, or eucalypts. Here, they move quickly from branch to branch searching the gum leaves for insects to eat. But sometimes they are observed low on the ground! At home we have an old pile of dirt that is grassed over \u2013 and recently my partner took a few shovels from the pile leaving a nice fresh bank of soil.<\/p>\n
This morning I was thrilled to see a male bird exiting a tiny hole from the soil! When it is time to breed, the parents dig a long nesting burrow in the ground \u2013 with creek banks, roadside verges and soil piles all commonly used.\u00a0 This nesting behaviour has led to another one of their old names \u2018Ground Diamond\u2019. And closely related Striated Pardalotes, who nest in tree hollows high in the canopy were called Tree Diamonds!<\/p>\n