Lovely Fairywren
Lovely Fairywren
11.5-13 cm. Male, breeding: like Variegated Fairy-wren but with short, rounded tail, broadly tipped white. Crown and cheek patch notably rounder than Variegated, bright pale blue; breast black; underparts white. Male, eclipse: some males moult into complete female-like plumage, others moult only partially. Female: bluest female fairy-wren: bill black; lores and eye-ring white; ear coverts and side of neck deep sky-blue; upperparts bright grey-blue; underparts white. Tail short, grey-blue broadly tipped white, outer feathers edged white. Immature: like dull female; bill blackish brown; tail longer. Pairs, family parties: hop-searches in shrubs/trees of scrub, rainforest and swamp woodland from leaf litter to 15 m+ high, calling continually, cocking and flirting white-tipped tail.
- Similar Species
- Variegated Fairy-wren, race assimilis, female: deep chestnut lores and eye-ring; underparts buff-white; both sexes, tails longer.
- Voice
- soft, drawn-out 'prip's; brisk single reel.
- Habitat
- margins, clearings/tracks in rainforest; vine scrub, swamp woodland, mangroves; well-vegetated watercourses; wastelands.
- Breeding
- any month, but mostly July-Dec.
- Nest
- rough domed structure, of grass, bark, leaf skeletons, grass stems, spiders' web; lined with fine grass, paperbark, fur, feathers.
- Eggs
- 2-3; creamy white, very finely, sparingly flecked red-brown, in faint zone at large end.
- Range & Status
- ne. Q: from Townsville-Atherton Tableland to C. York Pen., s. on w. coast to c. Edward R. Common. Sedentary.
