Alice Springs Desert Park

ASDP BirdsAustralian Boobook Owl Australian Bustard Australian Hobby Banded Lapwing Barn Owl Black Kite Black-breasted Buzzard Black-faced Woodswallow Black-fronted Dotterel Bourke’s Parrot Brown Falcon Emu Inland Dotterel Orange Chat Pied Honeyeater Princess Parrot Rainbow Bee-eater Red-capped Robin Spinifex Pigeon Splendid Fairy-wren Tawny Frogmouth Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-faced Heron White-winged Fairywren

Alice Springs Desert ParkFauna Flora Nature Theatre Nocturnal House

One of the most brightly coloured Australian desert birds, the Red-capped Robin (Petroica goodenovii) is also the smallest of the red robins, with its intense crimson cap and breast.

These robins are found in the more arid regions across Australia, inhabiting dry open desert woodlands, scrublands, mallee and mulga country, as well as farmland areas.

The Red-capped Robin are sexually dimorphic – meaning the male and female bird of the species are different in the colour of their plumage. It is the male that have the brightly crimson red plumage.

Images © Ausemade PL

Check out our Fauna Index on Birds for more information on the Red-capped Robin.


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Aves
  • Order: Passeriformes
  • Family: Petroicidae
  • Genus: Petroica
  • Species: Petroica goodenovii

Footnote & References

  1. A guide to Australia’s most colourful robins, 11 Sep 2019, Australian Geographic, https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2019/09/a-guide-to-australias-most-colourful-robins/

ASDP BirdsAustralian Boobook Owl Australian Bustard Australian Hobby Banded Lapwing Barn Owl Black Kite Black-breasted Buzzard Black-faced Woodswallow Black-fronted Dotterel Bourke’s Parrot Brown Falcon Emu Inland Dotterel Orange Chat Pied Honeyeater Princess Parrot Rainbow Bee-eater Red-capped Robin Spinifex Pigeon Splendid Fairy-wren Tawny Frogmouth Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-faced Heron White-winged Fairywren

ASDP FaunaASDP Arachnida ASDP Birds ASDP Insects ASDP Reptiles Dingo Ghost Bat Greater Bilby Numbat Red Kangaroo Short-beaked Echidna Spinifex Hopping Mouse Thorny Devil Western Quoll

Alice Springs Desert ParkFauna Flora Nature Theatre Nocturnal House