GOULDIAN FINCH Erythrura gouldiae - Department of Land ...

Threatened Species of the Northern Territory
Photo: M. Lewis
Description
The Gouldian finch is an easily recognised small
bird: mature adults have a purple chest, yellow
breast and green back, with an intensely vivid pale
blue upper collar. Females are duller than males,
and juveniles are completely dull green. Three
colour morphs exist in the wild: black face, red face
and yellow face.
Distribution
Formerly the Gouldian finch was distributed
throughout the tropical savannas of northern
Australia. It is now restricted to isolated areas mostly
within the Northern Territory (NT) and the Kimberley.
Although the decline has occurred throughout the
range, this has been most pronounced in the
easternmost populations (Franklin 1999; Franklin et
al. 2005). The largest known population is in the
Yinberrie Hills (about 40 km North of Katherine).
Conservation reserves where reported:
Caranbirini Conservation Reserve,
Judbarra / Gregory National Park, Kakadu National
Park, Limmen National Park and Nitmiluk National
Park.
Ecology
Gouldian finches occupy two different regions of the
landscape on an annual cycle (Dostine et al. 2001).
In the Dry season and part of the late
GOULDIAN FINCH
Erythrura gouldiae
Conservation Status
Australia: Endangered
Northern Territory: Vulnerable
Known locations of the Gouldian finch
Wet season, between February and October,
they live within wooded hills that contain a
group of Eucalyptus species commonly
referred to as snappy or salmon gums. Hollows
in these trees provide nesting sites. During this
period, they forage on the ground, feeding on
shed seeds of native sorghum, and find water
at small rocky waterholes that remain within
the hills until the next wet. In the Wet season,
Gouldian finches move from the hills into
lowland drainages to feed upon seeds of
perennial grasses, typically available from mid
December. These grasses include soft
spinifex, cockatoo grass and golden beard
grass (Dostine and Franklin 2002).
www.lrm.nt.gov.au

Clutch size averages around five and fledging rate is
about one to two young per pair (Tidemann et al.
1999). Depending on the season, pairs may raise
several clutches per year. Annual survivorship is
very low, with very few recoveries of banded birds
from one year to the next (Woinarski and Tidemann
1992).
Stand of Eucalyptus tintinnans in the Yinberrie Hills north
of Katherine (NT) used as a breeding site
(Photo: M. Lewis)
Conservation assessment
There is evidence of range contraction and
anecdotal and quantitative evidence of past
population decline for the Gouldian finch. Data from
the returns of licensed finch trappers operating in the
Kimberley region of Western Australia suggested a
rapid decline throughout the 1970s, leading to
cessation of the legal trapping industry (Franklin et
al. 1999).
Gouldian finches are monitored at three sites in the
Territory (Yinberrie Hills, Newry Station and Limmen
National Park) at intervals of one to few years
(including in 2009 and 2010). An internal report on
the monitoring over the period
1996-2004 indicated relative stability at Yinberrie
Hills (Price et al. ms.), and subsequent results at all
sites support this.
There has been a large series of records of Gouldian
finches in “new” locations across the Top End over
the last few years, most notably including frequent
records of hundreds near Maningrida, Mary River,
and the Gregory – Victoria River District (mostly
unpublished records, reported on NT Birds email
list). The widespread nature of these records, and
the large areas of similar but less accessible habitat,
2
leads to the conclusion that the NT
population has stabilised (perhaps is
increasing).
The absolute size of the adult Gouldian
finch population in the NT is difficult to
determine, but is probably more than the D1
threshold of 1 000. However, the unusual
life history of the species results in the
effective population size being smaller than
the absolute population size. In particular:
(1) the sex ratio of adults is strongly biased
towards males, and (2) there may be
strikingly low levels of genetic compatibility
between different colour morphs, to the
extent that “cross-breeding” may lead to
very high rates of offspring failure (40-80
per cent of offspring dead within three
months in captive experiments: Pryke and
Griffith 2009), suggesting a high degree of
instability in mixed and isolated populations.
The Gouldian finch is considered
Vulnerable in the NT (under criterion D1)
due to:
i. the effective population size estimated
to number

2005). Recent research in the Kimberley indicates
that the availability of breeding hollows may be more
limited, and limiting, than previously thought, and
may be significantly reduced by the frequent fire now
characteristic of much of the Gouldian finch’s range
(Brazill-Boast et al. 2010). There is also new
evidence from the Kimberley that the impact of
pastoralism and fire on food resources may be very
substantial (S. Legge, Australian Wildlife
Conservancy, unpubl.).
Conservation objectives and management
There is a national recovery plan for this species
(O’Malley 2006).
Management priorities are to:
ii. maintain long-term population monitoring via
waterhole counts in the late Dry season in
selected sites across the species’ range;
iii. improve current burning practises through
reduction of the extent of late Dry season fires
and with special focus on trying to protect the
Wet season feeding grounds; and
iv. improve communication for on-ground
management across different landholder groups
on the threatening processes affecting Gouldian
finch habitat, including fire management, grazing
management and feral herbivore control.
Compiled by
Carol Palmer
John Woinarski
Simon Ward
[updated December 2012]
References
Bell, P.J. (1996). Survey of the nasal mite fauna (Rhinonyssidae
and Kytoditidae) of the Gouldian Finch, Erythrura gouldiae,
and some co-occurring birds in the Northern Territory.
Wildlife Research 23, 675-686.
Brazill-Boast, J., Pryke, S.R., and Griffith, S.C. (2010). Nest-site
utilisation and niche overlap in two sympatric, cavity-nesting
finches. Emu 110, 170-177.
Dostine, P.L., and Franklin, D.C. (2002). A comparison of the
diet of three finch species in the Yinberrie Hills area,
Northern Territory. Emu 102, 159-164.
Dostine, P.L., Johnson, G.C., Franklin, D.C., Zhang, Y., and
Hempel, C. (2001). Seasonal use of savanna landscapes
3
by the Gouldian finch, Erythrura gouldiae, in the
Yinberrie Hills area,
Northern Territory. Wildlife Research 28, 445-458.
Franklin, D.C. (1999). Evidence of disarray amongst
granivorous bird assemblages in the savannas
of northern Australia: a region of sparse human
settlement. Biological Conservation 90, 53-68.
Franklin, D.C., Whitehead, P.J., Pardon, G.,
Matthews, J., McMahon, P., and McIntyre, D.
(2005). Geographic patterns and correlates of
the decline of granivorous birds in northern
Australia. Wildlife Research 32, 399-408.
Garnett, S.T., and Crowley, G.M. (1994). Wet-season
feeding by four species of granivorous birds in
the Northern Territory. Australian Bird-watcher
15, 306-309.
Garnett, S.T., and Crowley, G.M. (2000). The Action
Plan for Australian Birds, 2000. (Environment
Australia, Canberra.)
Garnett, S.T., Szabo, J.K., and Dutson, G. (2011).
The action plan for Australian Birds 2010.
(CSIRO Publishing/Birds Australia, Melbourne.)
O’Malley, C. (2006). National Recovery Plan for the
Gouldian Finch (Erythrura gouldiae). WWF-
Australia, Sydney and Parks and Wildlife NT,
Department of Natural Resources, Environment
and the Arts, NT Government, Palmerston.
Pryke, S.R. and Griffiths, S.C. (2009). Postzygotic
genetic incompatibility between sympatric color
morphs. Evolution 63, 793-798.
Tidemann, S.C. (1990). The relationship between
finches and pastoral practices in northern
Australia. In: Granivorous Birds and Agriculture.
(eds J. Pinowski and J.D. Summers-Smith) pp.
305-315. (PWPN – Polish Scientific Publishers,
Warsaw.)
Tidemann, S.C., Lawson, C., Elvish, R., Boyden, J.,
and Elvish, J. (1999). Breeding biology of the
gouldian finch Erythrura gouldiae, an
endangered finch of northern Australia. Emu 99,
191-199.
Tidemann, S.C., McOrist, S., Woinarski, J.C.Z., and
Freeland, W.J. (1992). Parasitism of wild
Gouldian Finches Erythrura gouldiae by the air
sac mite Sternostoma tracheacolum. Journal of
Wildlife Diseases 20, 80-84.
Woinarski, J.C.Z., and Tidemann, S.C. (1992).
Survivorship and some population parameters
for the endangered Gouldian Finch Erythrura
gouldiae and two other finch species at two sites
in tropical northern Australia. Emu 92, 33-38.
Woinarski, J.C.Z., Williams, R.J., Price, O., and
Rankmore, B. (2005). Landscapes without
boundaries: wildlife and their environments in
northern Australia. Wildlife Research 32, 377-
388.