The red-eared firetail (Stagonopleura oculata), also known as the boorin, is a small finch-like species of bird. It occurs in dense wetland vegetation of coastal to sub-coastal regions in Southwest Australia. Its appearance is considered appealing, with white spots, black barring and vivid crimson marks at the ear and upper tail. Red-eared firetails are usually only glimpsed briefly, if at all, as they move rapidly and discreetly through their habitat. Most observations occur when their soft voice is heard, or in flight when flushed from the dense scrub. Males and females are similar in colouring and bond as lifelong pairs that occupy a territory centred on their roosting and brooding nest site. The species occupy a similar ecological niche to the beautiful firetail Stagonopleura bella found in the east of Australia, although unlike other species of the genus they only occasionally group together and are almost never seen in large flocks.
The red-eared firetail is rare in captivity, being neither recommended nor generally permitted, as they require expertise and a large specialised environment to maintain their secretive habits; however, the observations in avicultural literature have supported and contributed to knowledge of its behaviour. Despite their shyness toward other birds and people, they are known to be less so when venturing out to bird feeders. The species is not easily confused with other birds in its native habitat, excepting perhaps the red-browed finch (Neochmia temporalis) that has escaped captivity and bred in the region.
Taxonomy
The red-eared firetail was described by the French zoologists Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard in 1832. They coined the binomial name Fringilla oculata. The description was published in the zoology volume of Dumont d'Urville's account of the expedition aboard the Astrolabe, based on a specimen that Quoy and Gaimard had collected at King George Sound. Their publication preceded the entry as Estrelda oculea in John Gould's Birds of Australia (1848), this later description making an unnecessary emendation to the spelling of the epithet oculata. Gould's Handbook to the Birds of Australia (1865) names the bird Zonæginthus oculeus with a citation to Cabanis' 1853 description under the same name. The specific epithet (marked with eyes, conspicuous) is a Latin term derived from (eye) that was later interpreted by authors (Gould, Cayley) to refer to the white spots as eye-like; however, Quoy and Gaimard seem to have meant "conspicuous" since they named the bird which refers to the highly noticeable, eye-adjacent red ear patch.
No infraspecific variation for the species is cited in avicultural or ornithological literature. A typical description of a new subspecies, Zonaeginthus oculatus gaimardi, published by G. M. Mathews in 1923 is only mentioned as a synonym for the species. While no subspecies are recognised, several varying characteristics in the population have been identified: a sub-population—near the coast from Cape Arid to Cape Le Grand and islands of the Recherche Archipelago—are notably paler and geographically isolated by a strip of arid land twenty kilometres wide. Johnstone and Storr (2004) reported an individual at Ravensthorpe to have pinkish tips to the feathers on its breast. A description as a subgeneric arrangement, Stagonopleura (Zonaeginthus) oculata, was published in 2006, confirming the presumed alliance to its sister species Stagonopleura (Zonaeginthus) bellus—the beautiful firetail—that was suggested by Gould and subsequent authors.
Earlier names for this population of birds in the Nyungar language were recorded by the field researcher John Gilbert and published in Gould's Birds of Australia and handbook. Similar names with variant spellings were given for the districts of King George Sound, Darling Range, and Perth by Serventy and Whittell in their mid-twentieth century A Handbook of the Birds of Western Australia (with the exception of the Kimberley Division) (1948). A recommended orthography and pronunciation list of all published names has proposed boorin, dwerdengolngani, and djiri in preference to later vernacular. Other names include variations red-eared firetail finch, Western firetail, red-eared finch, and the ambiguous zebra finch. The IOC World Bird List recommends "Red-eared Firetail" as the preferred English name and orthography. Gilbert, via Gould, reported that the Swan River colonists had named the bird "native sparrow". The attraction of the species to the seed bearing cones of sheoak (Allocasuarina) inspired the local name of "casuarina finch" in the Pemberton area.