View source for Dusky robin

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Short description|Species of songbird native to Tasmania}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Dusky robin
| image = Melanodryas vittata Bruny.jpg
| status = VU
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref =<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |year=2022 |title=''Melanodryas vittata'' |volume=2022 |page=e.T22704840A211592401 |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22704840/211592401 |access-date=24 July 2022}}</ref>
| genus = Melanodryas
| species = vittata
| authority = ([[Jean René Constant Quoy|Quoy]] & [[Joseph Paul Gaimard|Gaimard]], 1832)
| synonyms            = 
}}
[[File:Dusky robin (Melanodryas vittata) juvenile South Bruny.jpg|thumb|Juvenile]]
The '''dusky robin''' ('''''Melanodryas vittata''''') is a small passerine bird native to [[Tasmania]]. A member of the Australian robin family [[Petroicidae]], it is known by many other names such as Dozey, Sad, Sleepy, Stump, Tasmania/Wood Robin; Native Sparrow or Sad Bird.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/23753076 |title=Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic birds |date=1990–2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |others=S. Marchant, P. J. Higgins, S. J. Ambrose, S. J. J. F. Davies, W. K. Steele |isbn=0-19-553068-3 |location=Melbourne |oclc=23753076}}</ref>

This sombre dark brown robin is characterised by a narrow line, starting from behind the eye to the rear of the ear-coverts and white bars running down it wings. The origin of its [[Binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] was derived from a [[Latin]] word ''vittatus,'' which means 'banded'.<ref name=":0" />

==Taxonomy==
The dusky robin was [[Species description|described]] by the French zoologists 
[[Jean René Constant Quoy|Jean Quoy]] and [[Joseph Paul Gaimard|Joseph Gaimard]] in 1832 based on a specimen that the authors mistakenly believed had been collected in "le port du Roi-Georges, à la Nouvelle-Hollande", but that had actually come from [[Tasmania]]. 

They coined the [[binomial name]], ''Muscicapa vittata''.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Quoy | first1=Jean | author1-link=Jean René Constant Quoy | last2=Gaimard | first2=Joseph Paul | author2-link=Joseph Paul Gaimard | editor-last=Dumont d'Urville | editor-first=Jules | editor-link=Jules Dumont d'Urville | year=1830 | title=Voyage de la corvette l'Astrolabe : exécuté par ordre du roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829: Zoologie | volume=1 | language=fr |  location=Paris | publisher=J. Tastu | pages=173–174 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2064229 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1986 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=11 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=567 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14484268 }}</ref>{{efn|Although the ornithological part of the ''Voyage de la corvette l'Astrolabe'' has 1830 on the title page, the book was not published until 1832.<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Mlíkovský | first=Jiří  | year=2012 | title=The dating of the ornithological part of Quoy and Gaimard's "''Voyage de l'Astrolabe''"| journal=Zoological Bibliography | volume=2 | issue=2&3 | pages=59–69 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54038142 }}</ref>}} It was known for many years as ''Petroica vittata'' before being placed in its current genus ''[[Melanodryas]]''. Two subspecies are recognised, one on the Tasmanian mainland and the other on [[King Island (Tasmania)|King Island]]. 'Stump robin' was a name given to it by early settlers from its habit of sitting on stumps or posts.<ref name="tasgov">{{cite web|url=http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=5170|title=Dusky Robin, ''Melanodryas vittata''|author=Parks & Wildlife Service, Tasmania|date=7 July 2009|work=Nature & Conservation|publisher=Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Tasmanian Government|access-date=12 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208035601/http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=5170|archive-date=8 February 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><!-- cites previous two sentences --> Other local names include 'wood robin' and 'sad robin'.<ref name="Fletcher24">{{cite journal|doi=10.1071/MU924107|last=Fletcher|first=J.A.|year=1924|title=Birds of the steppes |journal=Emu|volume=24|issue=2|pages=107–17}}</ref>

The Australian robins were classified for a time in the [[Old World flycatcher]] family [[Muscicapidae]] or the whistler family [[Pachycephalidae]], before being placed in their own family [[Petroicidae]], which is a compact built, rounded head, a short, straight bill and rounded wingtips robin.<ref name="Boles35">Boles, p. 35.</ref> [[Charles Sibley|Sibley]] and [[Jon Ahlquist|Ahlquist]]'s [[DNA-DNA hybridisation]] studies placed the robins in a [[Corvida]] [[parvorder]] comprising many tropical and Australian passerines, including [[Pardalotidae|pardalotes]], [[Maluridae|fairy-wrens]], [[Meliphagidae|honeyeaters]], and crows.<ref name="SibAhl">{{cite book|vauthors=Sibley CG, Ahlquist JE|title=Phylogeny and Classification of Birds: A Study in Molecular Evolution |publisher= Yale University Press|location=New Haven, CT|year=1990|pages=603, 610–27|isbn=0-300-04085-7}}</ref> However, subsequent molecular research (and current consensus) places the robins as a very early offshoot of the [[Passerida]], or "advanced" songbirds, within the [[songbird]] lineage.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |author=Barker, F. Keith |author2=Cibois, Alice |author3=Schikler, Peter A. |author4=Feinstein, Julie |author5=Cracraft, Joel |name-list-style=amp |year=2004|title=Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|PNAS]] |volume=101 |issue=30 |pages=11040–45 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0401892101 |url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/0401892101v1.pdf|access-date=14 August 2008 |pmid=15263073 |pmc=503738|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Description==
Measuring from 14-16.5 centimetres in length, and weight around 27 grams,<ref name=":0" /> the dusky robin lacks the bright colours of its robin relatives. The bird has short, slender bill and a moderately long tail, and it is much larger than other [[Australasian robin|Petroicidae]] that occur in [[Tasmania]]. It is almost impossible to differentiate male from female in the field. They have no seasonal variation nor [[sexual dimorphism]].<ref name=":0" /> 

However, there are large, noticeable differences between adults and juvenile dusky robins.<ref name=":0" />

=== Juvenile ===
The juvenile dusky robin is black-brown on the top of its head and side of its neck, the side of the head is dark-brown in colour and heavily streaked off-white. Its chin and throat are mostly light grey-brown.<ref name=":0" /> The upper body is dark brown and heavily streaked off-white. The upper tail is also dark brown with indistinct pale pinkish-buff tip and edges.<ref name=":0" /> The wings are mostly dark brown, with prominent white or off-white to brownish-white tips or drosethorns to most coverts.<ref name=":0" /> There're also narrow and indistinct off-white strips along leading edges of the wings and an inconspicuous off-white to brownish-white central wing-bar across the bases of the [[Flight feather|remiges]].<ref name=":0" /> The under body is mostly light grey-brown, diffusely streaked or mottled off-white and black-brown. The under-tail cover is light grey-brown with narrow off-white streaks.<ref name=":0" /> The bill is grey-black, the gape is yellow and puffy, iris are dark brown, with pale brown-grey legs and feet.<ref name=":0" />

=== Adult ===
The adult dusky robin has brown feathers on the top of its head and on the sides of its neck.<ref name=":0" /> The distinctive lore and narrow dark-brown line extending from behind the eye to the ear-coverts, forming a dark eye-stripe, bordered above by cream supercilious that extends from the base of the bill and peters out above the rear ear-coverts.<ref name=":0" /> Below the eye-stripe, ear-coverts, dark brown streaked cream which are more coarsely below the lore, grading to off-white to very pale grey-brown chin and throat.<ref name=":0" /> The upper body is uniformly brown.<ref name=":0" /> The upper tail is dark brown with fine white sides and tip, folded wings are dark brown with narrow and indistinct white strip along the leading edge of the wings.<ref name=":0" /> The underbody is mostly light grey-brown, with greyish suffusion at the breast and diffuse off-white tips to undertail-coverts.<ref name=":0" /> The under tail is brown with fine white sides and tip.<ref name=":0" /> The underwing is mostly dark brown, with brown remiges but patterned similar to upper wing.<ref name=":0" />  

==Voice==
The dusky robins are also known colloquially as the sad bird or sad robin due to its mournful, melancholic song.<ref name=":0" /> It is often described as low, monotonic Choo-wee, Choo-we-er, without any particular character, and its repertoire limited to a few low notes.<ref name=":0" /> They seldom sing, and it is more of an indication of their vivacity than musical taste.<ref name=":0" /> Their song can be heard throughout the year and it's often among the first sounds at dawn.<ref name=":0" />

Some examples of their song can be heard here: https://ebird.org/media/catalog?taxonCode=dusrob1&sort=rating_rank_desc&mediaType=a&regionCode=  

==Social organisation ==
This is little known because it is near impossible to distinguish between males and females while observing them in the field.<ref name=":0" /> However, they do occur in small groups, or pairs, especially in breeding season. Sometimes a small flock from 6–12 birds, with the largest being 20 birds, which can include many juveniles, can be observed during winter.<ref name=":0" />

==Distribution and habitat==
The dusky robin is [[Endemism|endemic]] to Tasmania, where it is widespread. They have an open habitat, ranging from sea level to 1,200m above sea level. They usually occur in [[dry sclerophyll forest]], but can also be found in coastal heathland, sedge land and [[Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus|Button Grass]] plains. They, however, favour [[ecotone]]s, between forests and clearings or recently burnt area.<ref name=":0" />

==Breeding==
The breeding season is from July to December, and one or two broods are raised. Dusky robins are cooperative breeders, where two or three, presumably male, adult robins can look after a nest by feeding the female who is incubating the eggs.<ref name=":0" />
=== Nesting ===
The nest of the dusky robin is often large, untidy and cup-shaped, placed in a fork in a tree or stump, often a fire-blackened one.<ref name=":1" /> Materials for nest consist of rootlets, strips of bark, twigs, grass, stems of edges and pieces of fern-frond, bound with spider webs, often on a base of twigs and lined with grass, rootlets, fine bark, plant-down, hair, fur, feathers and wool.<ref name=":0" />

=== Eggs and clutch-size ===
The clutch consists of two to four pale olive- to blue-green oval or elongated-oval eggs, splotched with darker green and brown, with close-grained or finely textured, smooth and glossy,<ref name=":0" /> measuring {{convert|22|x|17|mm|in|abbr=on}}.<ref name=":1" /> 

=== Incubation and parental care ===
Eggs are incubated by females only, in which they are fed on or near nest by male or any other helpers present. Incubation period usually last about 15 days.<ref name=":0" /> After the chicks are hatched, nestlings and feedings are carried out by both parents, along with any other helpers present. Parents feed and attend fledgings up to one month, and young accompany parents for at least 6–7 weeks after [[Fledge|fledging]].  

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}b. There are numerous sources that were referenced by the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic birds that wikipedia were unable to find. 

c. Distribution map taken from https://ebird.org/species/dusrob1  

==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Melanodryas vittata}}
*{{Wikispecies-inline|Dusky robin|''Dusky robin''}}
{{Petroicidae}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1300151}}

[[Category:Melanodryas|dusky robin]]
[[Category:Robins|dusky robin]]
[[Category:Endemic birds of Tasmania]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1832|dusky robin]]
[[Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot]]