Hooded Robin
Melanodryas cucullata· 鸲鹟科(2 photos)
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Hooded Robin
14-17 cm. N. birds smaller. Male: bold black hood points down white breast; note white shoulder/wingbar; black tail, with prominent white side panels. Female: grey-brown where male black, grey-white below, some buffish; white wingbar/tail panels. Immature: like shadowy adults. Pairs, family groups: shy; sits watchfully on dead branches, stumps; flies to take prey on ground. Flight strongly undulating, note white wingbar, prominent hour-glass tail pattern.
- Similar Species
- White-winged Triller, male: throat/underparts wholly white. Pied Honeyeater, male: bill blue-grey, arched; blue-grey eye wattle; more white on shoulder; pale rump.
- Voice
- quiet, male's song prominent before dawn: clear 'whee yew, whee yew yew'.
- Habitat
- drier eucalypt forests, woodlands, scrubs; with fallen logs, debris; mallee, casuarinas, cypress pine, mulga; cleared paddocks with stumps/dead trees or regrowth; banksia-dominated coastal scrubs.
- Breeding
- July-Dec. Communally: three or more may attend nest.
- Nest
- open cup of bark strips, rootlets, grass, spiders' web; on stump, cavity in broken trunk, horizontal fork/branch, stunted eucalypt, on or near dead wood, 1-6 m high.
- Eggs
- 2-3; apple-green/pale olive, faint red-brown tint on large end, or clouded rich brown.
- Range & Status
- drier woodland/forest habitats in mainland Aust., except C. York Pen., driest deserts, wetter coastal areas. Declining in settled areas. Adults sedentary; young dispersive.
- Distribution key to races
- 1. Melanodryas cucullata melvillensis 2. Melanodryas cucullata picata 3. Melanodryas cucullata cucullata 4. Melanodryas cucullata westralensis
