You are here

Star Finch

Bathilda ruficauda
Conservation Status: 
Least Concern
Range: 
Australia

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.

The star finch's habitat is threatened by overgrazing of grasslands, removing essential cover for their survival as well as sources of food and water. Selective grazing of perennials during the wet season may also remove grasses that are needed for survival during the dry season. Burning of grassland during the dry season may reduce the fallen seed during the wet season and thus reduce the food supply needed by the star finch. This species is also threatened by the cage-bird trade.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species rates this species as Least Concern with a decreasing population because "although its population may be declining slowly (and the nominate subspecies may now be extinct), several large and apparently stable populations remain and it is therefore no longer reasonable to suspect a moderately rapid reduction in the overall population".

Source: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_finch
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Star Finch", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.