Animalia Life
Cinclosoma punctatum
TAXONOMY
Turdus punctatus Shaw, 1794, New South Wales, Australia.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Spotted ground-bird; French: Cinclosome pointillй;
German: Fleckenflцter; Spanish: Tordo Cordoniz Manchada.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
10.2–11 in (26–28 cm); 2.4–3.1 oz (67–87 g). Mottled plumage
of white, buff, rufous, brown, and black. Light brown head
with white brow stripe. Throat black with white patch; pinkish
breast.
DISTRIBUTION
C. p. punctatum: S. E. Australia; C. p. dovei: Tasmania; C. p.
anachoreta: Mount Lofty Ranges, south central Australia.
HABITAT
Eucalypt forest with littered open floor, particularly on rocky
hillsides.
BEHAVIOR
Terrestrial, sedentary, and rather shy. When startled, takes off
from ground like a quail; upon landing it runs away or freezes,
relying on its coloration to conceal it. Vocalizations include a
repeated, double-note song and a high thin contact call, inaudible
to many people.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Eats insects and other invertebrates, and occasionally small vertebrates
and seeds. It searches for prey on the ground while
walking in a slow, meandering path.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Late July–August to December. The female builds the nest, a
cup of dry vegetation, which is placed in a depression in the
ground near the base of a tree, shrub, rock, or clump of grass.
She incubates the two spotted eggs. The male assists her in
feeding the chicks during and after the 19-day fledging period.
One to three broods may be raised in a season.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Generally sparse but locally common. The population in the
Mt. Lofty Ranges, South Australia, is Critically Endangered, if
not already extinct. This has been attributed to habitat clearance
and fragmentation.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.