Subtly Exquisite Bird: A Delicate Blend of Pale Pinks and Blue-Grey Hues

Their extra-long tail makes them the largest of their species in their country of origin!

MEET THE LONG-TAILED FINCH

Photo (cropped) Courtesy of Laurie R B / CC BY-SA 2.0

The long-tailed finch (Poephila acuticauda) measures 160 mm in length, weighing in at 13.5 to 16.2 grams for males, and 11.4 to 17.6 grams for females. These birds wear a prominent roundish black bib on their throat and upper chest area, finishing their look off with a long pointed black tail. This long tail makes them the largest species of finch in Australia. Overall brown in color, they have a blue-grey head and nape with narrow black lores and eye-rings. Their belly and flanks are pale, almost pinkish-grey. There is a black band across the rump, the rest being white.

Photo Courtesy of Lip Kee / CC BY-SA 2.0

In general female birds have shorter wings and tails than their male counterparts.

Juvenile birds have black beaks and shorter tail feathers.

Photo Courtesy of Amaury Laporte / CC BY 2.0

The Long-tailed finch is endemic to northern Australia, from the Kimberley region to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Photo Courtesy of DickDaniels (http://carolinabirds.org/) / CC BY-SA 3.0

They prefer to live in and around grasslands and grassy woodlands.

Photo (cropped) Courtesy of Noel Reynolds / CC BY 2.0

In the wild, the Long-tailed finch likes to dine on ripe and half-ripe seeds of grasses and herbaceous plants. Insects form part of their food intake, especially during the breeding season. They will also catch flying insects such as winged flying termites.

Photo Courtesy of Russ from Grosse Pointe Farms, USA / CC BY 2.0

Long-tailed finch like to breed in natural hollows of trees or shrubs as well as tussocks of grass, building a nest made from grass using broader blades on the outside, the inner chamber being a cup woven from finer stems, seed heads, and woolly plant fibers. When building the nest in a tree it can be built over 4 meters from ground level, even as high as 18 meters. Up to six dull white oval eggs can be laid within and incubated by parents for up to 17 days. There have been reports of older broods helping the parents raise the next brood.