Black Thicket-Fantail
Rhipidura maculipectus
A medium-sized, long-tailed bird of lowland swamp forest and mangroves. Blackish plumage with short white eye-brow, white patch on the side of the throat and prominent white tail tips. Also white-spotted chest and wing bars. Very secretive and difficult to see. Stays low to the ground with tail often cocked and fanned. Similar to White-bellied Thicket-Fantail, but Black lacks the white belly. Also similar to Sooty Thick-Fantail but Black has the white tail tips. Voice, a rising, tinkling, metallic song followed by “wi-chew!”.
Identification
This is a medium-sized, long-tailed bird measuring 18-19cm and weighing 18-19g. The plumage is blackish with white spots on the chest and wings and a white tip of the tail. There is as well a short white stripe above the eye and white spot on the side of the neck. The tail is often upturned and fanned out. The iris is dark brown, the beak is black with pinkish underside. Males and females are similar but females have fewer spots and more pale abdomen. Juveniles are sooty black all over except for an indistinct white supraorbital spot and white tips on the tail feathers.<p>Black thicket fantail is similar to White-bellied thicket fantail (R. leucothorax), but the last is differed by its white breast (which is reflected in its name). This species is also similar to Sooty thicket fantail (R. threnothorax) but that one has no white tip of the tale.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Rhipidura maculipectus
- Authority
- Gray, GR, 1858
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Rhipiduridae
- Genus
- Rhipidura
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
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Pseudotriccus pelzelni
A tiny, rotund flycatcher found singly in the understory of montane forest from Panama to Peru. Very nondescript plumage: darker olive above with a dull tawny breast and yellowish belly. Looks uniformly brownish in bad light. Usually stays low, where it perches quietly and sallies out to glean insects. Often detected by its snapping sounds and whirring wingbeats. Occurs from around 700–2,000 m, typically lower than Rufous-headed Pygmy-Tyrant but some elevation overlap.
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