Habits
Usually in pairs, although in flocks in the colder months.
Food
Insects, procured among foliage or from under bark.
Voice
An even, soft, whistled, 'wheet-whoo', uttered in contact, regularly repeated for long periods. A louder, nasal, 'twnnt' is uttered in the breeding season.
Forty-spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus quadragintus) [XC858790]
by Jonathan Neumann from Maria Island, Glamorgan-Spring Bay Council, Tasmania, Australia (call, flight call, song)
Forty-spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus quadragintus) [XC860020]
by Barry Edmonston from Missionary Road, North Bruny, Tasmania, Australia (call)
Nest
Cup-shaped or domed, composed of bark fibre and lined with fine grass, in a hollow trunk or stub up to 20 m above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
3 - 5; lustrous white; oval; about 17 x 13 mm. Incubation: about 16 days; by both sexes.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 25 days.
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Most closely related to Spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus). Single specimen from King I (western Bass Strait) named as a geographical subspecies rex, but indistinguishable from birds elsewhere in range.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet