Diamond finch (Stagonopleura guttata) are dapper in white, black, grey and red. The Diamond Finch live in scattered groups of five to 50 birds, occasionally up to more than 100. This is in the open eucalypt woodlands and fringing mallees of southeastern Australia. In fact, the distinctive small bird is one of the largest finches in Australia.
Call of diamond finch is drawn-out, plaintive, nasal twooo-heee, with the first syllable descending and the second ascending; both sexes use it for contact and identification, with the female giving higher pitch to the call. Also low, snoring calls between birds during nest relief. The song consists of a long series of low, rasping notes, performed by a male.
There have been declines in Diamond Finches’ numbers in many areas, partly due to habitat destruction and partly due to trapping. Local populations in the Mt Lofty Ranges, South Australia, were almost exterminated by trapping in the 1950s but have partially recovered since. Others that ranged north to the Atherton Tablelands before then have apparently been wiped out.
In their habitat, Diamond Finches-unlike firetails-feed exclusively on the ground, hopping briskly along, feet together, as they search for ripe and part-ripe seeds and occasional insects. The Diamond finch eats lettuce, broccoli tops, spinach, spray millet, chickweed, egg food, sprouted seeds, mealworms, small crickets, small cockroaches, and hulled oats.
Water and trees are always near, for drinking and shelter. During the day, the birds regularly drink, neither scooping nor sucking as other dry-country finches do. At dusk the feeding flocks disperse to roost, small tight groups heading to impenetrable shrubbery or to nests specially built for sleeping. Roosting nests are smaller, and built lower and closer than breeding nests, and are made of coarse green and dry grass.
When taking wing, the finches rise with a whirring and fly strongly, straight and silently, to their trees. They display their crimson rumps as they move. Flight is fast and direct with few undulations, on rapidly beating wings; over short distances the birds fly rarely more than a few meters above the ground, manoeuvring around trees and bushes. When they are in large flocks, they tend to fly in a long line with the lead birds close together, or in a Y-formation, with the youngest birds at the back. Individuals who are isolated or lost often utter plaintive identification calls that are answered by other flock members.
With breeding, the loose flocks that have amalgamated through autumn and winter break up as groups leave to nest in small colonies on their own. Even the Diamond Finches are much more social than the firetails, and several nests-even a dozen or so-are often grouped in one or two bushes and trees. The nest site is the only area that is defended. Male courts female in an elaborate ritual. Picking up a long grass stem at one end, he flies to a dead and bare branch. The female follows and the male sings his raspy song and bobs. Inclining his head forward and down, bill to breast, and fluffing his plumage to almost double his size, he begins to bounce up and down. Legs bend and straighten alternately, without feet leaving the perch.
The male bends his head down towards the female as she approaches. He offers his open beak and grass stem. In response, she may invite copulation by quivering her tail, either at the nest or at the nest site. A basic element of bird courtship is the construction of nests (via the grass stem), as well as providing food for young (by imitating begging). Its objective is to stimulate and synchronise sexual responses in the female. These responses are also tuned by frequent long bouts of calling and answering between male and female early during breeding. Each pair takes about 10 days to build its bulky nest, both sexes bringing grasses, and pausing in a nearby tree before landing at the nest site; but only the female does the weaving.
The female lays her first egg before the nest is fully lined. Both parents incubate the completed clutch and later share in feeding the nestlings, sleeping with them at night in the nest. In wet years, two broods may be attempted in one season. After fledgling, young birds spend about a week in the breeding area before joining a larger flock to forage wherever food sources are abundant. Many young exist as nomads during the winter months, not constructing roost nests and moving on as the food source depletes.
It is also known as Diamond Firetail, Diamond Sparrow, and Spotted-sided Finch. The Diamond finch size is 120-130 mm long. The male finch head is grey; back and wings ash-brown; rump and upper tail coverts shining crimson; tail black. Lores are black; throat, lower breast, belly and undertail coverts are white; black band across upper breast, extending back along flanks where white spots occur on upper margin. Eyes and bare eye-ring are red. Bill is red-pink; base is blue-tinged. Feet are dark grey. The female finch is similar to the male; it is browner; the band on the breast is narrower. The immature bird is mainly olive-brown about, head grey; rump and upper tail coverts crimson; underparts white with dull wash over breast and down flanks flecked white. Eyes red-brown; bill grey-black.
The Diamond Finch is usually seen in groups, in southeastern open woodlands. Breeding occurs in August-January in colonies of four-12 pairs. Nest large, flask-shaped with bulky spherical nest chamber and entrance tunnel of variable length, 240-300 mm long, 10-20 mm high, 120-170 mm wide; made of long grass blades and stems; lined with fine grass stems and white feathers; placed in thick foliage in a mistletoe clump, eucalypt tree or shrub up to 10 meters about the ground. Eggs: four-seven; pure white; oval shape, about 18 x 13 mm.
Incubation: 12- 15 days, by both sexes. Young fledge in 10-12 days. The diamond finch is found in woodland and open grassland with scattered timber in southeastern mainland Australia. It is found north to Carnarvon and Expedition Ranges, Qld, and southwest to Kangaroo Island and southern Eyre Peninsula, SA. No races
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