Red Wattlebird - Anthochaera carunculata

Red Wattlebird

Anthochaera carunculata

Family: Meliphagidae (Honeyeaters, 74 species in Australia)
Size: 31-39 cm
Distribution: Within several hundred km of the coast of NSW, VIC, the very southernmost lower eastern QLD and Eastern SA, southern WA
Status: Common
Habitat: Forests, woods, suburbs
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

The Red is common in parts of Sydney and many other areas. It is found in the Blue Mountains and is extremely common in the Upper Blue Mountains. It looks a lot like Little Wattlebird, but it has a red flap of skin under its eye (the "wattle"), and it is a lighter grey colour and looks less "spotted". Its underside has yellow colouring on it.

It has a very distinctive call, a bit like an old wooden cuckoo-clock (it imitates the ticking of the clock and also the cuckoo sound), which sometimes can go on for hours at a time.

Red Wattlebird - Anthochaera carunculata
Photo: Mick Stephenson, VIC. High Resolution (1750 x 1207).

Red Wattlebird - Anthochaera carunculata
Photo: Brett Donald.

Red Wattlebird - Anthochaera carunculata
Photo: Peripitus, SA. High Resolution 1492 x 1776).

Red Wattlebird - Anthochaera carunculata
Artwork: John Gould, 'The Birds of Australia', 1848. Original Scanned Image.

Some Birdwatching Resources

NEW: The Complete Guide to Australian Birds, by George Adams.

This is another of the newer ones (published in November 2018) that I bought recently (June 2020). It's got photographs rather than drawn pictures of the birds. They're really good quality photos. 10 or more years ago, the Australian bird field guides with photographs definitely weren't in the same class as the ones with hand-drawn pictures, but that seems to have changed. Now I think it's more a matter of personal preference. I imagine that the massive increases in availability of long-zoom-distance digital photographic equipment has made it much easier for there to be better quality photos of birds.

This book has colured strips down the outside of each page so you can find the different types of birds easily, which I really like.

Purchase from Australia (The Nile)

Purchase from Australia (Fishpond)

Purchase from Amazon.com (USA Site)

Purchase from Amazon.com.au (Australian Site)

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Red Wattlebird

Anthochaera carunculata

Some Birdwatching Resources

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