Star finch
The star finch (Bathilda ruficauda) is a seed-eating bird species found in northern Australia. It has a distinctive red face and bill, and broad white spots down its flanks. One of its three subspecies may be extinct.
The star finch is an estrildid finch, between 10 and 12 cm in length, with crimson fore-parts of the head and a scarlet bill. The upper and lower plumage is yellow-green, white spotted on the underparts, the belly more yellow. The upper tail coverts are scarlet, tail feathers are brownish scarlet. The female has less crimson on the head, and generally duller than the male, the immature star finch is olive to brownish with a grey face and head.[2]
The broad white spots under its chin and down its flanks give rise to its common name. It has a wingspan of between 49 and 56 mm, a bill length between 11 and 13 mm, and weighs between 10 and 12 grams.[3]
Synonyms for the scientific name Bathilda ruficauda include Poephila ruficauda and Neochmia ruficauda.[4]
The species is also referred to as red-faced firetail, red-tailed finch, or ruficauda finch.[2] The common name, red-tailed finch, was first used by Gould (1884)[5] and was in near universal use from Hall (1899)[6] until 1926 when the term star finch appeared in the Royal Australasian Ornithological Union's (RAOU) second Official Checklist[7] with no explanation for the change.[8]
Hombron and Jacquinot first encountered these birds when they stopped off in Australia as part the French expedition to Antarctica of 1837–1840, traveling aboard the Astrolabe.[9] While Hombron initially placed the bird in the genus Erythura, he indicated that the short legs of the bird could necessitate a new genus, Neochimia.[10] Gray adopted the name in 1849.[11] Derived from the Greek, neokhmos meaning new it signifies "new bird".[8]
_Wyndham_WA.jpg/440px-Star_Finch_(Neochmia_ruficauda_subclarescens)_Wyndham_WA.jpg)
_Wyndham_WA.jpg){kind=link}