Male White-fronted Chat with caterpillar.
Photo: Richard Major © Australian Museum
White-fronted Chat.
Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka © Bird Explorers
Distribution map of Epthianura albifrons
Map © Birds Australia Birdata
White-fronted Chat
Scientific name: Epthianura albifrons
Family: Meliphagidae
Order: Passeriformes
- Featured Bird Groups
- Small insect-eating birds
What does it look like?
Description
Male White-fronted Chats have a white face, breast and belly, dissected by a distinctive black band across the breast that extends around to the back of the head. Females have similar markings but they are gradations of grey-brown, rather than black-white, and the breast band is narrower. Immatures are similar to the female, but the breast band is very faint or missing.
Where does it live?
Distribution
The White-fronted Chat occurs across southern Australia (including Tasmania) from Shark Bay in Western Australia around to the Queensland/New South Wales border.
Habitat
The White-fronted Chat lives in salt marsh and other damp areas with low vegetation such as swampy farmland and roadside verges. Sometimes occurs on beaches and the edges of lakes.
Seasonal movements
Mostly sedentary, although there may be some nomadic movements, particularly in the drier areas of its range
What does it do?
Feeding
White-fronted Chats often forage in flocks of around 20 birds that congregate in areas where there are temporary outbreaks of insects. They run along the ground, picking up small insects, usually less than 5 mm long. Midges, kelp-flies, plant bugs and beetles are popular food items.
Breeding
White-fronted Chat males and females form pairs towards the end of winter, while they feed in flocks. They sometimes nest in loose colonies, with nests as close as 5 m to each other. Males defend a small nest-site territory, but not necessarily for a whole breeding season. Second clutches will often be laid in locations that are different from earlier nests. Males follow their mates closely, during their fertile period, watching them from prominent perches, and chasing any males that may approach them. Only the female builds the nest (guarded closely by the male at all times), but both sexes take equal roles in incubation and feeding of the young.
Living with us
Living with humans
One of the earliest records of White-fronted Chats in the Australian Museum's collection comes from Chatswood. The species' Sydney distribution is now restricted to two small populations living in wetlands in Botany Bay and the Parramatta River. Draining and filling of swamps for housing has eliminated much of the habitat of this species in areas of high human population density. The species remains common in farmland and coastal wetlands.
Urban habitat requirements
White-fronted Chats are not found in urban habitats.
References
Morcombe, M. 2000. Field guide to Australian Birds. Steve Parish Publishing.
Major R.E. (1991) Flocking and feeding in the white-fronted chat Ephthianura albifrons: the relationship between diet, food availability and patch selection. Australian Journal of Ecology 16: 395-407
Major R.E. (1991) Breeding biology of the white-fronted chat Ephthianura albifrons in a saltmarsh near Melbourne. Emu 91: 236-249
Major R.E. (1992) Mate guarding in a population of White-fronted Chats Ephthianura albifrons Jardine & Selby (Passeriformes: Ephthianuridae): a response to group living and a male-skewed sex ratio? Australian Journal of Zoology. 40: 401-409.