Category Archives: Finch
Red-browed Finch
I love these birds. They’re the only native finch that I see commonly around Sydney.
They usually look spiffing, all buffed and polished. This one looks a little less well turned out. Perhaps it’s a youngster. Standing straight and tall (well, tall for a finch anyway):
Common name: Red-browed Finch
Scientific name: Neochmia temporalis
Approximate length: 12 cm
Date spotted: 24 July 2024 (winter)
Location: Allambie Heights, NSW, Australia: 33°46’18.7″S 151°14’56.1″E
Zebra Finches at Lake Mungo
This is my first sighting of these pretty little birds. A male and a female Zebra Finch were flitting around a bush at Red Top lookout, near the Walls of China in Mungo National Park. The male is hidden behind the twigs on the left, while the female is more visible on the right of the photo.
These birds like to hang around scrublands and salt marshes, but they also like to have water close by. I was surprised at how much water and greenery there was in the Outback areas that we visited. Lake Mungo itself is pretty much dried out (has been so for more than ten thousand years), but there were even puddles of water next to the sand dunes of the Walls of China.
Common name: Zebra Finch
Scientific name: Taeniopygia guttata
Approximate length: 10 cm
Date spotted: 20 May 2024 (autumn)
Location: Red Top lookout, Mungo National Park, New South Wales, Australia: 33°47’19.2″S 143°06’47.9″E
So cute! Juvenile Red-browed Finches
I was wandering around a new area of the bush, to the west of Sydney near the Blue Mountains, when I saw a couple of little birds that I couldn’t at first identify:
From the red in their tails, I thought they might be Red-browed Finches, but they didn’t have the characteristic red stripes above their eyes.
Then I saw an adult with them:
They were juveniles, yet to develop the red brows.
Common name: Red-browed Finch
Scientific name: Neochmia temporalis
Approximate length: 12 cm
Date spotted: 30 March 2024 (summer)
Location: Bulcamatta Falls Track, The Devils Wilderness, NSW, Australia: 33°33’19.4″S 150°36’04.8″E
Red-browed Finch builds nest in lichen-covered tree
A little Red-browed Finch wrangles a long supple twig into its nest. The nest is in a lichen-covered tree, making a pretty scene with the red flashes on the bird against the green of the lichen.
The nest is barrel-shaped, bigger than I’d expect for such a small bird, with a small hole at one end:
The tree is in a swampy area of Manly Dam. When the weather is wet and humid, the lichen flourishes, as now:
In the dry summer heat yet to come, the lichen will die away, but it always seems to come back.
Common name: Red-browed Finch
Scientific name: Neochmia temporalis
Approximate length: 12 cm
Date spotted: 22 December 2023 (summer)
Location: Manly Dam park, near Sydney: 33°46’23.1″S 151°14’35.9″E
Spiffy little Red-browed Finches and a Pardalote
In the muted tones of a wintry day in the bush after rain, the green and red colouring of the Red-browed Finches stands out cheerily:
Red-browed finches are small (about 12 centimetres from beak to tail) and fast-moving. The red on their brow and tail can be quite vivid, as in this little one.
Common name: Red-browed Finch
Scientific name: Neochmia temporalis
Approximate length: 12 cm
Date spotted: 17 July 2023 (winter)
Location: Manly Dam park, near Sydney: 33°46’48.7″S 151°15’03.9″E
There were a couple of Pardalotes hopping around too:
I’ve shown better pics of Pardalotes in earlier posts.
Common name: Spotted Pardalote
Scientific name: Pardalotus punctatus
Approximate length: 10 cm
Date spotted: 17 July 2023 (winter)
Location: Manly Dam park, near Sydney: 33°46’48.7″S 151°15’03.9″E
Red-browed Finch
A Red-browed Finch in the sunlight, pausing on the way between here and there.
Common name: Red-browed Finch
Scientific name: Neochmia temporalis
Approximate length: 12 cm
Date spotted: 31 March 2020 (late summer)
Location: Manly Dam National Reserve, near Sydney: 33°46’54.5″S 151°15’08.7″E
Red-browed finch on Casuarina tree
A few of these pretty little red-browed finches were feeding on a tree as I passed this morning. This one sat still long enough for me to snap a picture. I think the tree is a Casuarina, also known as a swamp she-oak.
Common name: Red-browed Finch
Scientific name: Neochmia temporalis
Approximate length: 12 cm
Date spotted: 4 February 2018 (Summer)
Location: Manly Dam National Reserve, near Sydney: 33°46’36.6″S 151°15’16.4″E
Goldfinch near Cathedral Cove, New Zealand
Departing from the usual locations described in this blog, I’m not in Sydney today. I’m travelling in New Zealand, and saw a beautiful little Goldfinch on a thistle bush. Neither the finch nor the thistle is native to New Zealand, but they make a very pretty picture. The bird plucks the seeds from the flowerhead, and a shimmering cloud of silver threads drifts around its beak.
A still image of the same bird – click the image to expand it in your browser:
Common name: European Goldfinch
Scientific name: Passeriformes fringillidae
Approximate length: 12 cm
Date spotted: 7 December 2016
Season: Summer
Location: Cathedral Cove car park, Te Whanganui-A-Hei Marine Reserve, North Island, New Zealand
Latitude/longitude: 36°49’59.0″S 175°48’00.7″E
Red-browed Finch
This little finch is looking very spiffy. I guess he’s donned is brightest feathers for the spring socials.
Here’s a still shot, grabbed from the video:
Common name: Red-browed Finch
Scientific name: Neochmia temporalis
Approximate length: 12 cm
Date spotted: 27 September 2014
Season: Spring
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia
Latitude/longitude: 33°46’35.4″S 151°15’13.0″E
Sydney Birder 