White-throated Fantail

Rhipidura albicollis

A distinctive fantail, all dark except for a white throat and a short white eyebrow. The tail, often fanned, is a shade darker with white tips to all tail feathers except the central pair. Juvenile is like adult, but with reduced white on face and brownish edges to the dark body feathers. Gives very harsh contact calls. Song is a musical phrase of 6-7 notes that ascends first and then descends. Found in a wide range of wooded habitats, from dense forest to forest edge and gardens, from lowlands up into the mountains.

Identification

The adult white-throated fantail is about 19 cm (7.5 in) long. It has a dark fan-shaped tail, edged in white, and white supercilium and throat. There is otherwise much variation in plumage between races. Most resemble the Himalayan R. a. canescans, which is primarily slate grey above and below, featuring a black eye mask, and a white throat and eyebrow.[citation needed]<p>Local names for the bird in India include Nasoni sorai (Assamese).

Taxonomy

Scientific name
Rhipidura albicollis
Authority
(Vieillot, 1818)
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Rhipiduridae
Genus
Rhipidura

Range and habitat

Migration
Vertical migration

Behavior

The white-throated fantail lays three eggs in a small cup nest in a tree. It is insectivorous, and often fans its tail as it moves through the undergrowth.<p>The eggs are approximately 2 cm (0.79 in) in length. They are white in colour, with a band of brown spots around the middle, closer towards the base of the egg. <p>Birds use the same song year after year, with progressively small changes, with the result that the song sounds very different after 4–5 years. The male's call is a valuable tool in detection and identification of the bird, which can often be confused with the white-browed fantail, R. aureola, where their ranges overlap. R. aureola has light underparts and prominent spots in two rows on the wings.[citation needed]

Conservation

Population trend
stable

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Golden-browed Chlorophonia

Golden-browed Chlorophonia

Chlorophonia callophrys

Small bird, plump and compact with stout bill. Male and female both lime green with yellow belly and blue cap. Males have prominent yellow eyebrow. Usually seen in pairs or small flocks, often in association with a fruiting tree. Forages at all levels, most frequently the canopy. Listen for its single low-pitched whistle.

Katanga Masked-Weaver

Katanga Masked-Weaver

Ploceus katangae

This red-eyed masked-weaver has a plain olive-green back and pink-brown legs. The breeding male has a black face mask, with the black band on the forehead above the bill varying from broad in the south to narrow farther north. Female and juvenile are dull and inseparable from other masked-weavers. Pairs and colonies are localized residents of reedbeds, wetlands and adjacent woodland, in a narrow global range between northeastern Zambia and southeastern DRC. The breeding males of Katanga and Southern masked-weavers are very similar, but the former are smaller, have some saffron around the masks, and have darker green backs and rumps; breeding male Tanganyika and Lake Lufira Masked-Weavers have more burnt-orange around the face and underparts, and ranges do not overlap.

Spectacled Prickletail

Spectacled Prickletail

Siptornis striaticollis

Small, brown bird of Andean cloud forest. Quite rare and apparently absent from many areas of seemingly appropriate forest. It has faint, pale streaking on the breast, a partial eye-ring, and a short white stripe behind the eye. Similar to Streaked Xenops, but bill is not upturned and lacks “whisker” stripes. Creeps along branches in middle levels of the forest, and often follows mixed-species flocks. Song is a quick series of high-pitched “tick” notes.

Start Your Bird Watching Journey

Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.