The Flame Robin on Wilson's Promontory

Abstract

Although the Flame Robin, Petroica phoenicea, breeds on Wilson's Promontory and the off-shore islands, there is no evidence of migration to Tasmania.

 It would appear that Wilson's Promontory and the adjacent grasslands, possibly to the timbered fringe of the Yanakie foothills, constitute a complete community for a large population of Flame Robins. The huge isolated mass of Devonian granite of the Promontory, with the Pleistocene and Recent sands of the Yanakie isthmus, make an area that is unique in south-eastern Australia.

The unusual nesting sites on Mount Oberon indicate a natural nesting adaptation to the changed environment on Wilson's Promontory, and the number of nests placed in Leptospermum juniperinum is unique in the published nesting records of the Flame Robin.