Red-browed Firetail

Neochmia temporalis

Other Names: Red-browed Finch
Family: Estrildidae (Waxbills, Grass-finches, Mannikins, 19 species in Australia). Sometimes included in Subfamily Ploceinae of Family Ploceidae
Size: 11-12 cm
Distribution: Within about 300 km of the coasts of NSW, VIC, QLD, small parts of coastal Eastern SA
Status: Common
Habitat: Varied; dense shrubs interspersed with grass, near water
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

The Red-browed Firetail (or Red-browed Finch) is a common bird in the Blue Mountains. They are small and can be found either on the ground or in trees, usually a few together at a time.

Red-browed Firetail - Red-browed Finch - Neochmia temporalis
Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW

Red-browed Firetail - Red-browed Finch - Neochmia temporalis
Photo: Blue Mountains NP, Glenbrook NSW. High Resolution (1618 x 1420).

Red-browed Firetail - Red-browed Finch - Neochmia temporalis
Photo: Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains NSW

Red-browed Firetail - Red-browed Finch - Neochmia temporalis
Artwork: John Gould, 'The Birds of Australia', 1848. Original Scanned Image.

Some Birdwatching Resources

Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds, Peter Slater, Pat Slater and Raoul Slater. This is a smaller field guide, and its advantage is it is easy to carry around. Its size is 21.3 x 11.4 x 2.8 centimetres, or 8.4 x 4.5 x 1.1 inches in the old scale. So it is a good one to get if you want to have your field guide with you out in the field. Unlike most of the field guides it also has illustrations of the eggs of all the birds that breed in Australia. It has very good reviews on Amazon.

Click here to Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

Purchase from Australia (Angus & Robertson)

Click here to purchase from Australia (The Nile) $28.45 AUD (May be unavailable)

Click here to purchase from Australia (Fishpond) May be expensive.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Field Guide to Australian Birds, by Michael Morcombe. This one has colour drawings of the eggs and the nests which not many other field guides do (I can't think of any that do). It's an excellent field guide and one of the four main ones (the other three being above this one). The weakness of this field guide is that some of the pictures of the birds aren't as good (or accurate) as the other three most used field guides. It's also the heaviest though there is a pocket edition which is much smaller and lighter.

Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

Purchase from Australia (Angus & Robertson)

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