The tiny and tenacious 'forty-spot'

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Bruny Island

The forty-spot is such a special bird and Tasmania really needs to embrace this little gem. Physically it's tiny and it's quite demure in its colouration so it doesn't stand out. It's very hard to find, very hard to see and very hard to hear. But this little bird is quintessentially Tasmanian, says Dr Sally Bryant.

It's based in Tasmania. It's critically dependent on one eucalypt - eucalyptus viminalis - the white gum, which provides nearly all of the food for the young during the breeding season. It has to defend its territory from all sorts of birds that are imposing. It's grounded, it can't migrate large distances and it's eight and a half centimetres in size.

It's one of Australia's smallest birds but it just has this really special presence.

I just see it as Tasmanian. I see it as so grounded on this island. It's a real woodland survivor, it's tenacious, it hangs on and so it embodies a lot of the spirit I see of this place.

40 spotted pardalote outstretched Kim Murray — Forty-spotted pardelote. Image: Kim Murray

It is an island species. Its distribution, as we've known in more recent times has been Flinders, Maria and Bruny, with a very small scattering on mainland Tasmania. So it's very much an east coast island-based species.

We do have historic records of it being on King Island, but there's a lot more we need to look at in terms of its movement that might tell more of its story and where we've lost it from.

It has always had a very precarious position in Tasmania, but nonetheless it has hung on and it's still hanging on.

It's also a species that doesn't hold up an industry. It's not an emblem for mining, it's not an emblem for wood harvesting. It's just always in the background, and therefore often go very much unnoticed.

You could compare it to people. Most people, their lives go unnoticed, and yet individually and collectively they're important.

I see the forty-spot as having a very Tasmanian story.

Dr Sally Bryant

Renowned wildlife scientist Dr Sally Bryant worked in the field for over 30 years, including with...

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It's one of Australia's smallest birds but it just has this really special presence.

I just see it as Tasmanian. I see it as so grounded on this island. It's a real woodland survivor, it's tenacious, it hangs on and so it embodies a lot of the spirit I see of this place.

We do have historic records of it being on King Island, but there's a lot more we need to look at in terms of its movement that might tell more of its story and where we've lost it from.