Blue-breasted Fairywren
Malurus pulcherrimus· 细尾鹩莺科(3 photos)
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Blue-breasted Fairywren
13.5-15 cm. Male, breeding: crown, eye-ring and cheek patch deep, uniform lilac-blue; black mask from bill, past eye to partial rear collar; throat and upperbreast black, washed deep, slightly glossy purple-blue; tail large, dusky blue, with faint white tips on outer tail feathers. Female, immature and eclipse male not safely distinguished from their equivalents in Variegated Fairy-wren, though bill blackish in WA and upperparts more uniformly deep grey-brown.
- Other name
- Blue-breasted Superb Warbler or Fairy-wren.
- Similar Species
- Variegated and Red-winged Fairy-wrens.
- Voice
- somewhat like Superb, but harder, higher-pitched.
- Habitat
- undergrowth in drier forests, woodlands; sandplain-scrubs, heaths; tea-tree and mallee associations; low dense dune vegetation, acacia-thickets, saltbush. In SA (Eyre Pen.), heath country, swampy localities.
- Breeding
- Aug.-Nov.
- Nest
- domed, loosely woven; of soft grass, bark strips, plant down, spiders' web and egg-sacs; low in undergrowth or low shrub, or tall tuft of grass.
- Eggs
- 3-4; white, finely speckled with reddish purple, mostly at large end.
- Range & Status
- broken distribution in sw. WA and Eyre Pen. (SA). In sw. WA it occurs between ranges of Variegated and Red-winged Fairy-wrens; absent from wetter parts. The n. and e. limits are c. Shark Bay-Mingenew-Bunjil-Wongan Hills-Gibb Rock-Norseman and e. to Bight coast s. of Mundrabilla, coastally e. to Eucla. Approx. s. and w. limits are Moore R., passing inland of Perth to wheatbelt and s. past Katanning to s. coast near Albany. Overlaps Variegated Fairy-wren on w. coast, Shark Bay-Moore R. In SA, confined to s. Eyre Pen., n. and e. to Kimba-Whyalla. Common in WA; uncommon SA. Sedentary.
