Jacky-winter
Microeca fascinans
Small Australian robin, gray-brown above and pale below; often swings tail side to side when perched. Dark tail with prominent white outer tail feathers, absent in similar Kimberley subspecies of Lemon-bellied Flyrobin. Female Hooded Robin similar but with darker wing showing pale panels. Female Golden Whistler much larger and plumper, with a thick bill and yellow lower belly. Usually in pairs in open woodlands, where it perches prominently, often on stumps and posts. Hunts by plucking prey from the ground, in typical Australian robin style.
Identification
The jacky winter is around 12 – 14 cm in length (including the tail) and its weight varies from 14 – 18 g. The plumage of M. f. fascinans includes a greyish breast with white on the bottom half, its head and back is greyish-brown, while its wings are a darker brown with white edges. The bill is black, it has a narrow eye-line and a buff alula stripe. The tail of M. f. fascinans is blackish brown with white outer feathers. Its legs are black. Subspecies M. f. assimilis is very similar to M. f. fascinans; however, it is darker, with more grey over the breast and flanks, covering up the white which is seen on M. f. fascinans. M. f. pallida is smaller than the other two subspecies, being only around 13 cm. M. f. pallida is much more pallid than the other subspecies, and is usually a sandy brown colour.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Microeca fascinans
- Authority
- (Latham, 1801)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Petroicidae
- Genus
- Microeca
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The jacky winter can be heard vocalising before sunrise and usually stops towards the middle of the day. Occasionally closer to sunset, it can be heard again. During the day they can be seen perched atop trees and posts, preening their feathers or even sunning to kill the parasites, which may be present in amongst the feathers.<p>The jacky winter is an insectivore and a sit-and-search predator, which moves amongst perches to locate food. This is a continuous activity that can cover long distances in order to find prey items. The jacky winter has two methods of hunting, which include hawking and ground-pouncing. Hawking is when a bird flies and drops to the ground, grabbing their prey during flight, while ground-pouncing is when they fly from a perch, grabbing prey as they land. Both of these hunting styles are used quite commonly by the jacky winter.<p>In many species of birds, the male plumage is quite bright and flamboyant to attract the opposite sex in hope of finding a partner to mate with. The jacky winter is instead a sexually monomorphic bird, which means that both the male and female are almost identical in appearance. Rather than plumage playing a significant role in attracting the opposite sex, the jacky winter male uses song to attract a female during courtship. In the eastern states of Australia, the jacky winter breeds mostly to the west of the Great Dividing Range, where a suitable habitat of eucalyptus woodland is present. They build a small, open cup-shaped nest, which is often made from grass and bark strips held together by spider webs. The nest is built in an exposed position, usually on a fork of a branch.<p>The breeding season of jacky winters occurs from September to November. Leading up to September, singing from the males is at its highest peak, then as the nestlings are born around late September, the singing becomes quite minimal. In late October, the singing increases again, lasting until early November, when the females lay a second brood of the season. By late November with the hatching of the young, the males stop singing, making vocalisations almost non-existent from then on. It stays like this until the birds have left the area. The nesting period lasts for 15 to 20 days, while the incubation is between 16 and 18 days. Only the female will incubate the eggs, while the male will help feed the young once they have hatched. 92 per cent of the time, the female will lay only two eggs per clutch. It is uncommon for this number to vary, since many different environmental factors determine the number of eggs per clutch in order to maximize the survival rate of fledglings from the nest.<p>Territory size of the jacky winter has been recorded at 1.7 ha, which is similar to other species of Petroicidae, such as the flame robin and scarlet robin. The jacky winter seems to favour habitats for breeding that contain a eucalyptus box woodland or open box woodland, which have patches of box trees and isolated live trees. Fallen logs and stumps are also favoured in habitat selection. The jacky winter holds these territories by perching on top of these eucalyptus trees and keeping a regular sustained call. The breeding density of jacky winters is about 17.2 ha for one pair. The jacky winter is known to defend their territory all year around.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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