Black Throated Finch Recovery Team

WELCOME

 
The objectives of this site are to provide: 
 
 

FIND OUT HOW TO CREATE GREAT HABITAT FOR BLACK-THROATED FINCHES

 

Greener Pastures - a free NQ Dry Tropics' Healthy Habitat event. June 23

 
Grass and habitat experts Marnie McCullough, Rob Hunt and Tony Grice from the Black-throated Finch Recovery Team and Trust will tell you everything you wanted to know about encouraging grasses on your property that are essential for livestock and native habitat. Participants receive free native grasses and a native grass book. Food and drinks supplied. You might even see a Black-throated Finch.  
 
Saturday 23 June 10.30am - 1.30pm. End of the road, Old Flinders Highway, Oak Valley.  
For more information call 4724 3544 or email  
 

FACT SHEET AND MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES

 
All you need to know about the Black-throated Finch is contained in this fact sheet. If you are a landholder wanting to protect and encourage Black-throated Finch habitat on your property the Management Guidelines will show you how.  
 

EXPLORE OUR SITE

 
Get a website login and browse the library. It contains a growing collection of papers, articles, photographs and maps. You are invited to contribute your own photographs and publications to the library. 
 
Have you been fortunate to see a Black-throated Finch in the wild? Report your sightings of the Black-throated Finch using the website. You will be helping to update the scientific knowledge of the bird and its distribution. 
 
Perhaps you would like to participate in activites to learn more about the Finch?  By having a website login you can volunteer for upcoming events. 
 
 

A HANDSOME BIRD

 
The Black-throated Finch is a small (up to 12cm), sleek and stocky bird. It has a thick, black bill and a black eye line which makes them appear to be wearing wrap-around sunglasses. They have a pale blue-grey head, cinnamon-brown body, black tail and black bib which extends down to the breast, earning them the nickname Parson Finch. 
 

TWO KINDS OF BLACK-THROATED FINCHES

 
There are two sub-species of the Black-throated Finch. The northern form (Poephila cincta atropygialis) has a black rump and the southern form (Poephila cincta cincta) has a white rump. This differentiating feature is not always easily observed as Black-throated Finches are small, tend to fly high and move rapidly. 
 
The northern subspecies can be found on Cape York Peninsula and west to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The southern sub-species was once found between the Atherton Tablelands (north Queensland) and north-east New South Wales and west to Alpha (central Queensland). However, since the late 1970s, the bird has rarely been recorded south of Clermont (Queensland - 23°S). This equates to a 50 to 80% contraction of its former range. The southern sub-species is now listed as ENDANGERED under Federal, New South Wales and Queensland legislation.  
 
A detailed Recovery Plan for the southern sub-species was approved by the federal minister for the environment in 2008. The Black-throated Finch Recovery Team was formed in 2002 to address the conservation needs of the bird across its range. Based in Townsville the Recovery Team supports the implementation of the Recovery Plan.