In Australia, painted firetails (Emblema pictum) are a common species of estrildid finches. Along gorges and acacia- and spinifex-clad hills in northern inland Australia, the Painted Firetail makes the most of its arid environment. On permanent waterholes, it forms small sedentary groups of five to thirty birds.
It appears that pairs of firetails do not hold permanent territories as other firetail species do, nor do they seem to be particularly attached to each other. It is not customary for them to touch each other, even during mating, and they do not preen each other for long periods of time. A Painted Firetail is never far from water, and when they drink they scoop up water and tilt their heads back to swallow rather than sucking like most Australian finches.
An undulating flight pattern is characterized by strong, low flight. They hop briskly over the ground, never in bushes or seeding tussocks, using their long tapered bills to probe under herbs and crannies in rocks as they feed. A staple diet consists of fallen grass seeds. A low calling that sharpens in flight keeps communication between feeding groups. Even when breeding, only the female roosts in the nest; they don’t build roost nests and sleep near one another in low bushes or under tussocks at night.
A Painted Firetail breed in small loose colonies, but does not cluster its nests together. Their tails are twisted towards each other more than those of other grass finches when the court is on the ground. A stem and stone are picked up and dropped off by both partners during the introduction. The male fluffs out his face and breast colors and begins singing while pivoting his head, stretching up without bouncing.
His next move is to hop up in front of the female and look her in the eye. During the ceremony, both birds wipe their bills frequently. During nest building, both sexes contribute materials. The female lays bark, twigs, and stones down first, then constructs a flimsy dome. Feeding the young is also done by both sexes.
Among its other names are Emblema, Painted Finch, Emblema Finch, and Mountain Finch. Most of the painted finch’s food is grass seeds, especially those from spinifex species (Triodia), although it also eats fruits and blades of grass from time to time. In order to glean fallen seeds, individuals hop and bounce among rocks and tussocks of grass.
Painting firetail measure approximately 110 to 120 millimeters in length. He has a dusky crown, a mid-brown back and wings, a crimson rump and upper tail coverts, and a dusky brown tail. It has scarlet cheeks, lores, forehead, chin, and upper throat. Black on the front of the neck, breasts, sides of the belly, and flanks; scarlet on the center of the belly; and black on the undertail. White is the color of the eyes. There is a red tip on the upper mandible and a pale blue base on the lower mandible. The feet are pink-brown in color.
A female’s face is brown and her bill is scarlet; her belly has a small scarlet patch; her breasts and flanks are heavily spotted. A painted firetail’s immature appearance is similar to that of the female but duller; it has no scarlet on its head and breast; it has ventral spots that are smutty, and its bill is black above and gray below with a whitish base.
Painted Firetails chirp a loud, harsh chirp for identification and contact, sometimes soft, sometimes loud, staccato, and repeated, especially in flight. A loud rattling noise is made by a female in alarm; a louder contact call is made by a male. Painted Firetail sing wheezy chattering followed by long whistles, che-che-che-che-che-werreeeeeeeeeeeeeee, by males with up-pointed, partly-opened bills. Repeated bursts are heard.
Almost any time of year is suitable for breeding painted finches, and eggs are recorded except in November and December, and nestlings from March to October. Breeding months vary according to the nesting district, WA; they extend to the coast of Pilbara. Nest size is 110mm long by 110mm high by 130mm wide; globular, with a side entrance. Spinifex stalks are used to build the nest, as well as twigs, bark, roots, stones, and bark. Located in the tussocks of spinifex, the nest is surrounded by soft grass stems lined with hairy seeds and feathers.
The process of courtship usually takes place on the ground and involves picking up and dropping twigs or other objects. Males may sing to females in a vertical posture, raising their body feathers and pivoting their heads from side to side as part of a greeting display.
Normally, the bird lays three to four white eggs that are oval in shape and measure approximately 14mm by 11mm. In the northern interior, where it occurs in rocky gorges and stony hills as far south as Everard and Birksgate Ranges, SA, and erratically in the Flinders and Gawler Ranges, SA, and the eastern Murchison Ranges, SA.
