Arafura Fantail
Rhipidura dryas· 扇尾鹟科(2 photos)
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Arafura Fantail
16 cm; span c. 21 cm. Similar to Rufous Fantail but duller, longer tail is more strongly graduated; orange–rufous in upperparts ends at base of tail, remainder of tail leaden-grey with broad white tip to each tail feather ; large black throat patch not as strongly scalloped white as in Rufous Fantail. Immature: similar to adult but paler, less black on throat. Forages by hawking and hovering, often low, including on ground; fans tail and flicks wings.
- Other name
- Wood Fantail
- Similar Species
- Rufous Fantail, ranges may overlap slightly in se. Gulf of Carpentaria and w. Cape York, e.g. Aurukun region.
- Voice
- high-pitched ‘seep-seep-sep’; soft ‘chip chip’ contact-calls.
- Habitat
- mangroves, riverine forests of melaleuca, pandanus; monsoon rainforest and vine thickets.
- Breeding
- Sept.–Dec.
- Nest
- similar to Rufous Fantail, often less than 2 m above ground or water.
- Eggs
- 2; pale, buff, dotted with warm brown in well-defined zone at large end.
- Range & Status
- Banda-Arafura Arch. – Lesser Sunda Is., s. New Guinea and n. Aust. Coastal n. Aust. from Yampi Sound (WA) to w. Cape York n. to Aurukun (Q). Sedentary, perhaps some movement away from riverine environments during wet season.
