Double-barred finch (Stizoptera bichenovii) is widespread in the better-watered grassy woodlands of northern and eastern Australia. It is also known as Black-rumped Double-bar, Banded Finch, Bicheno Finch, Black-ringed Finch, Double-bar Finch, Owl-faced Finch, and Ringed Finch.
Double-barred finches measure about 100-110 mm long. The male crown is mid-back to mid-brown-grey with fine black barring; the upper rump is black; the lower rump and upper tail coverts are white in the eastern race, and black in the northwestern race. Wings are black, finely spotted white. The tail is black. The face and upper breast are white cream; a thin black ring from the forehead above the eye, around the face, and across the lower throat; another thin black bar across the lower breast. The lower breast and belly are cream. Moreover, the undertails are black. Their eyes are dark brown. The bill is blue-grey. Feet are slate-grey. There is often a narrower black barring on the female. The immature bird is duller than the adult; the bark is indistinct above and below, and the upper parts are tinged olive-grey.
The Double-barred Finch is one of the few birds that seem to be expanding in the southeast. Since the turn of the century it has reached the New South Wales coast on a broad front and the Murray River along the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. Everywhere it occurs in local pockets, with thickets for shelter and streams and pools for drinking. Like the Zebra Finch it needs to drink regularly, even hourly, and not being a strong flier, it never lives far from water.
It drinks standing at the edge of pools, immersing its face and sucking. Double-barred Finches are also highly social as Zebra Finches, grouped in small flocks of up to 40 birds, or usually less, year-round. Members greet one another during the day by bowing with twisted tails and opening and shutting their bills quickly.
Due to the close ties between the groups, component pairs that remain mates long-term rarely stand out until breeding has taken place. All feed and drink together, huddle and groom one another on twigs in bushes and low branches, and sleep together at night. They cram into a tiny, domed, unlined roost nest specially built for thickets.
Even during the breeding season, several pairs often nest in the same bush. Afterward, the groups sometimes join with others in larger, locally nomadic flocks of several hundred or more. However, this is usually only under drought conditions and rarely for long. The birds feed mostly on the ground, hopping energetically about picking up fallen seeds of grasses and herbs and jumping up to pull down and pluck half-ripe grain from overhanging seed heads; the stalks are not held down with the feet.
Many insects are also taken, gleaned from foliage and the ground rather than caught in flight. If disturbed, Double-barred Finches flit up to the nearest thicket for cover, hopping and jumping about, and uttering nasal squeaks to signal identity and keep contact. Agitated birds flick their tails in a semi-circle. Courtship is inconspicuous and subdued with no dancing nor stem-holding by the male. Instead, the male simply fluffs himself into a ball, crouches on a perch by his mate, bodies parallel, and sings and bill-wipes over and over.
As the song develops he hops towards the female, his body pivoting from one side to the other in the manner of Zebra Both sexes contribute to the nest, the male bringing most of the material while the female constructs. Sometimes they take over and renovate the derelict nests of other birds, such as babblers. Both also incubate, changing over at long two- to three-hour intervals during the day; they sleep together in the nest at night. Young begs with active head movements and, after fledging, hold up one wing when feeding to shield their siblings.
Double-barred finch call is a short low nasal tat in close contact; longer, louder vocal tiaat in identification, alarm, and flight; high-pitched squeaking at the nest. The song consists of a soft repetitive sequence of nasal identification notes.
Nesting and breeding occur in spring and autumn in the southeast, extending through summer; June-November in Queensland; January-March in the northwest, towards the end of the wet season when seeding grasses abound.
Nest almost spherical, 140 mm long, 120 mm high, 90 mm wide, with short side-entrance tunnel; of dry grass stems, coarser outside, finer inside; lined copiously with feathers in the east or plant wool in the northwest; in twiggy branchlets in small shrubs and trees or, occasionally, stumps and hollows 1-4 meters above the ground.
The bird lays usually 4 or 5 eggs, which are plain white; oval shape 16 x 11 mm. The incubation period is 13-14 days, for both sexes. Young fledglings emerge after about 21-22 days.
The Double-barred finch is found in small pockets of grass, thicket, and surface water in woodland and open forest around coastal and near inland northern and eastern Australia, from Kimberley, Western Australia, to Murray River, New South Wales. The range extends towards southeastern coastal regions where the bird has adapted to human settlement. There are two races: one black-rumped in the west; one white-rumped in the east; they intergrade in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
It is also known as Black-rumped Double-bar, Banded Finch, Bicheno Finch, Black-ringed Finch, Double-bar Finch, Owl-faced Finch, and Ringed Finch.
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