Spinifexbird
Poodytes carteri· 蝗莺科(2 photos)
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Spinifexbird
14-16 cm. Best identified by its preference for spinifex. Bill longish; eyebrow buff; upperparts unstreaked tawny brown (some rufous, others greyer); underparts plain buff-white; dark brown tail nearly equals length of body, carried part-raised. Immature: browner. Climbs to sing or watch intruder; scrambles to hide; runs between clumps, tail cocked; flies with tail pumping.
- Voice
- loud, repeated 'cheery-wheat', like Stubble Quail; also 'cheerit' repeated c. every 3 seconds, followed by repeated descending 'cheeroo'. Alarm-call, sharp 'tk!'.
- Habitat
- spinifex-clumps, dense grasses, near creekbeds, lower slopes,; mostly in hilly country above c. 300 m (Ford & Parker, 1974).
- Breeding
- Aug.-Nov.
- Nest
- cup of grasses lined with rootlets, in spinifex-clump.
- Eggs
- 2-3; pink-white, freckled pale lilac, purplish, red-brown.
- Range & Status
- Patchy across arid inland Aust. and WA, from Desert Uplands region, sw. of Charters Towers (Q)., n. to Mt. Isa (Q)-Barkly Tableland-upper Victoria R. (NT) and upper Fitzroy R. (WA); to w. coast from Eighty Mile Beach s. to c. Carnarvon Ras. and Dampier and Montebello Is. Groups; thence s. inland to Minilya R. (WA) and to James, Kritchauf and Mt Sunday Ras. (NT) and Indulkana Ra. (far-n. SA). Locally common. Sedentary.
