Varied Sittella

The feet of the Varied Sittella are small but with very long toes for clinging onto branches. They move in spirals down trees, searching for food, and even hang below branches.

Identification

The Varied Sittella is a small, short-tailed, dumpy bird which is usually heard before it is seen in the upper branches. There are five sub-species, differing in the patterns on the head and neck, the amount of streaking and in the wing patterns. The iris is orange-yellow, and the eye-ring, legs and feet are yellow. The bill is long and slender and slightly up-turned. All adults are greyish above and white below, with varied streaking. The upper tail coverts are pale, with dark-barring underneath. The tail is dark with a white tip. The upper wings are dark; in southern and eastern birds the underwings have an orange-rufous band, while in the north the band is white. Males have longer bills than females and tend to feed lower. Sittellas are usually seen in flocks, moving swiftly between trees or foraging busily over branches or the trunk. This species has many names including Black-capped or Orange-winged Sittella, Nuthatch or Barkpecker.

Habitat

Varied Sittellas are found in eucalypt woodlands and forests throughout their range. They prefer rough-barked trees like stringybarks and ironbarks or mature trees with hollows or dead branches.

Distribution

Varied Sittellas are endemic (only found in) and widespread in mainland Australia.

Feeding and diet

Varied Sittellas feed mainly by gleaning on tree trunks or branches, moving downwards or along branches, searching for insects. They land at the top of a tree and work downwards, searching and poking into cracks and under things, chattering noisily.

Communication

The contact call is a single 'chip' sometimes developing into a rapid chatter. Flocks call noisily when foraging.

Breeding Behaviour/s

The Varied Sittella's nest is a deep open cup, like a cone, of bark and spider web, decorated on the outside with long pieces of bark, camouflaged to look like the fork or branch where it is placed. This species usually breeds cooperatively, with the breeding pair having several helpers. They will sometimes also breed in single pairs. Only the breeding female incubates the eggs and broods the young. All help to feed the young and remove faecal sacs.

Breeding Season: June to April.

Economic/social impacts

Varied Sittellas may have declined in some areas following the clearing of habitat and removal of woodland.