Hooded Robin, male with female at nest.
Photo: Purnell Collection © Australian Museum
Hooded Robin, female.
Photo: Purnell Collection © Australian Museum
Hooded Robin, female.
Photo: CE Bryant © Australian Museum
Hooded Robin, male.
Photo: CE Bryant [MLW] © Australian Museum
Distribution map of Melanodryas cucullata
Map © Birds Australia Birdata
Hooded Robin
Scientific name: Melanodryas cucullata
Family: Petroicidae
Order: Passeriformes
- Featured Bird Groups
- Small insect-eating birds
What does it look like?
Description
The Hooded Robin is a medium-large robin with a rather short slender bill and a moderately long tail which is square-tipped. Adult males are pied (black and white) with a black hood and back, white underparts, black wings, white shoulder bar and wing stripe. Females are similar to males but greyer with a brown-grey head and a dark brown wing with a white stripe. Juveniles are dark brown with off-white speckling, white markings on the upper body and white underneath. Hooded Robins are also known as Black or Pied Robins. They are usually seen in pairs or small groups and are rather shy and quiet. Their flight is short, swift and undulating (curving up and down) with the white in the wings and tail is obvious.
Similar species
The adult male Hooded Robin is the only black and white robin. Pied Honeyeaters and Black Honeyeaters are slimmer, with down-curved bills and they are noisy and active. Females may be similar to other female robins and the Jacky Winter, but the larger size of the Hooded Robin, with its grey breast and diagnostic white markings on the wing should distinguish it.
Where does it live?
Distribution
Hooded Robins are found all over mainland Australia, except Cape York and eastern Gulf of Carpentaria or inland around the Simpson Desert, on the Nullarbor Plain or south of the Kimberley Ranges. They are more commonly found in south-eastern Australia from Adelaide to Brisbane.
Habitat
Hooded Robins are found in lightly timbered woodland, mainly dominated by acacia and/or eucalypts.
Seasonal movements
Not well known but believed to be sedentary.
What does it do?
Feeding
The Hooded Robin sits on exposed perches, such as dead branches and stumps and pounces on arthropods (mainly insects). It forages on or near the ground.Breeding
The Hooded Robin breeds in monogamous pairs. They construct a cup-shaped nest of leaves and bark, bound with spiders' web, placed in a crevice, hollow or hole in a tree or stump. The female incubates the eggs.
Living with us
Living with humans
Clearing of woodlands in south-eastern Australia has caused a decline in populations of the Hooded Robin. Young birds are taken by foxes.References
Pizzey, G. and Knight, F. 1997. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.
Morcombe, M. 2000. Field guide to Australian Birds. Steve Parish Publishing.
Simpson, K and Day, N. 1999. Field guide to the birds of Australia, 6th Edition. Penguin Books, Australia.
Higgins, P.J. and J.M. Peter (eds) 2002. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, Volume 6: Pardalotes to Shrike-thrushes. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.