Micronesian Rufous Fantail
Rhipidura versicolor
Small, active songbird with long, pale-tipped tail and warm brownish-orange on the forehead, rump, and tail base. Grayish brown above and pale below overall, with a white throat and black-speckled breast. Frequently cocks and fans tail. Endemic to the Mariana Islands (Saipan, Tinian, Agiguan, and Rota) and Yap, in the Carolina Islands. Extinct on Guam. Inhabits a wide range of habitats, from remnant native forests to towns. High-pitched, tinkling song often has a descending quality. Formerly grouped with other closely related species under “Rufous Fantail.”
Taxonomy
The Micronesian rufous fantail was formally described in 1872 by the German ornithologists Gustav Hartlaub and Otto Finsch based on specimens collected by the Polish naturalist John Stanislaw Kubary on the island of Yap in Micronesia. They placed it with the fantails in the genus Rhipidura and coined the binomial name Rhipidura versicolor. The specific epithet is Latin meaning "various colours" (from vertere, "to change" and color "colour"). The Micronesian rufous fantail was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the rufous fantail (renamed the Australian rufous fantail) (Rhipidura rufifrons) but is now treated as a separate species mainly based on the genetic differences.<p>Four subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Rhipidura versicolor
- Authority
- Hartlaub & Finsch, 1872
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Rhipiduridae
- Genus
- Rhipidura
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Tui Parakeet
Brotogeris sanctithomae
Small, short-tailed parakeet of lowland rainforest. Green with yellow forehead patch, light eye, and peach-colored bill. Also has blue wing feathers visible in flight, like many small green parakeets. Almost always found in pairs or groups, and is quite loud in flight, giving harsh “kreet” calls. Similar to Cobalt-winged Parakeet, but has a light eye, a yellow forehead, and slightly harsher calls.
Orange-eared Tanager
Chlorochrysa calliparaea
Colorful tanager found in cloud forest along the east slope of the Andes. Male is brilliant green with a bluish tinge to head and underparts, dark throat, and orange patch on neck and rump. In southern Peru and Bolivia, male also has a broad sapphire stripe on underparts. Female and immature are duller with smaller orange neck patches, and blue on underparts is much reduced or lacking entirely. Usually encountered following mixed-species canopy flocks.
Evergreen-forest Warbler
Bradypterus lopezi
Mid-sized warbler with a long, spiky tail. Varies geographically, with most birds dull brown or olive-green, though there is a bright rufous subspecies around the Albertine Rift. Found in forest at middle and high elevations. Skulks in dense undergrowth; remarkably shy and elusive. The song is a series of several “chu-wit” couplets that increase in volume. Similar to Cinnamon Bracken- and Bangwa Warblers, but in most of the range distinguished by much less rufous overall coloration. Around the Albertine Rift, distinguished from Cinnamon Bracken-Warbler by the lack of a well-defined white throat.
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