Eastern Yellow Robin Nadiah Roslan

Eastern Yellow Robin

Did You Know?

Its average weight is 20 grams
Its genus name Eopsaltria means ‘dawn singer’, as it is one of the first birds to be heard at dawn
It is very inquisitive and is often confident around people, taking handouts of food from picnickers

It has a grey back and head, and bright-yellow underparts. Southern birds have an olive-yellow rump, while birds in northern Australia have a brighter yellow rump. Its throat is off-white and when seen in flight, it has a pale bar on its wings. Its bill is black. Young birds are rufous-brown with paler streaks.

Size

13 – 17 cm long, the males are slightly larger

Behaviour

Call

A variety of high bell-like piping, a repeated ‘chop chop’ and some scolding notes.

Diet

Insects, spiders and other arthropods. They are caught mostly on the ground, with the bird pouncing onto them from a low perch.

Movement

Most birds are sedentary or resident, but some move from higher elevations to the lowlands in winter.

Breeding

The female builds the nest in a fork in a shrub or small tree, usually within six metres of the ground. The nest is a woven cup of strips of bark, grass, fine twigs, moss and other vegetation, bound with spider web and lined with fine material and leaves. Two to three eggs are laid, and are incubated by the female, but both parents care for the young birds. There may be up to three clutches of eggs laid each season.

Field Guide

Improve your identification skills. Download your Eastern Yellow Robin field guide here!

What to Observe

Courting/Mating
Calling
Feeding
Bird on chicks
Bird on eggs
Bird on nest
Bird feeding young

When and Where

When To Look

Year round and breeding commonly occurs between July and January.

Where To Look

In a wide range of habitats from dry woodland to rainforest. It is also occasionally also seen in parks and gardens
In eastern and south-eastern mainland Australia, from south-eastern South Australia and Victoria, north through the Australian Capital Territory and the eastern half of New South Wales, into Queensland, where it occurs as far north as Cooktown
It occurs mainly in coastal and adjacent areas, though in some regions its range extends well inland to the inland slopes of the Great Divide and the adjacent plains
In northern Queensland it is mainly restricted to the cooler heights of the Great Dividing Range
Look in forests and woodlands, parks and gardens; birds are often seen perched on the side of a tree trunk or on a low perch

Similar Species

Western Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria griseogularis) occurs in south-western and southern Australia, mainly west of the Eyre Peninsula, so the range of this species does not overlap with that of the Eastern Yellow Robin.

Pale-yellow Robin (Tregellasia capito) smaller than an Eastern Yellow Robin, with olive-coloured upperparts, a pale face and lighter, pale-yellow underparts and lacks a pale eyebrow.

« Eastern Spinebill Fan-tailed Cuckoo »