A very unusual bird
A very unusual bird that looks like an angel of Christmas with flames erupting from beneath its garments.
The only way to reliably breed this bird, a diamond fire tail (Stagonopleura guttata), is to choose parents who have the recessive genes that result in the bird’s almost pearl-white plumage.
The bill, eyes, and rump of the diamond fire tail finch are all vivid red.
It has a broad, horizontal black band just below the throat that extends to the lower edge of its black-and-white-spot-decorated wings.
These birds are indigenous to southeast Australia, which includes the Carnarvon Ranges in Queensland, the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, and Kangaroo Island.
They weigh 17 grammes when they reach their full size of 10–12 cm, which is far more than the tiny emu–wren, which only weighs 4 grammes. One of three native fire tail finches to Australia, it is.
The red-eared fire tail is one of the other two species of fire tail (Stagonopleura oculata).
Which resides in the southwest of Australia, and the stunning fire tail (Stagonopleura bella), which resides in the southeast of same continent.
From Newcastle to Kangaroo Island as well as most of Tasmania, the stunning fire tail is present. In actuality, it is the sole variety of finch that lives on the island.
