Gray Fantail

Rhipidura albiscapa

Small songbird with long, pale-tipped tail, tiny, thin bill. Gray above, pale below, with narrow pale wingbars and a thin black border between white throat and chest. Frequently cocks and fans tail. Subspecies vary in upperparts tone and extent of white in the tail. Inhabits wide range of habitats, very active in foraging, and rarely perches in the same place for long.

识别特征

This species is mid-to-dark grey or grey-brown above, lighter (often yellowish/orange) below, with a white throat, white markings over the eye, and with (depending on the race) either white-edged or entirely white outer tail feathers. It grows to 16 cm (6.3 in) in length, of which half is the tail, which, as the name implies, is often displayed fanned out. This reveals that the outer tail feathers are light and the centre ones are dark. Some races, such as keasti, have a darker plumage.<p>This species is easily seen while walking in eucalypt forest, rainforest, mangroves, heath, and wooded habitat. During waking hours, they are almost never still. They flit from perch to perch, sometimes on the ground but mostly on the twigs of a tree or any other convenient object, looking out for flying insects. They are able to catch flying insects using intricate acrobatic chases. The birds are not shy, and will often flit within a few metres of people, especially in forested areas and suburban gardens. In doing so, it is able to catch any small flying insects that may have been disturbed by human activities such as walking or digging. The bird's call is an almost metallic cheek, either as a single sound or (more often) repeated as a chattering.

分类信息

The populations of Australian fantails are complex and they were all formerly considered conspecific due to their being closely related based on their song, habitat, tail coloration, and clutch size. A recent study shows that R.fuliginosa in New Zealand and Australian R.albiscapa were sister taxa and another fantail species, named R.phasiana in the north coast of Australia, was sister to these two fantail species. Besides, within this subgroup R. albiscapa from Vanuatu and Australia were paraphyletic. Hence, R. albiscapa was found to be polyphyletic.<p>Numerous birds of southern Australia are characterised by a known biogeographical barrier, the Nullarbor Plain, displaying morphological divergence of subspecies differentiation. Because of the east-west division due to the geographic barrier effect on their morphological divergence, the populations of R. albiscapa could be classified into five subspecies by their characteristics, such as their calls, patterns of plumage, and nest construction.<p>Five subpopulations of R. albiscapa are shown below:<p>Rhipidura albiscapa keasti (eastern Australia)<p>Rhipidura albiscapa albicauda (Inland western Australia)<p>Rhipidura albiscapa preissi (South western Australia)<p>Rhipidura albiscapa alisteri (eastern Australia)<p>Rhipidura albiscapa albiscapa (Tasmania)

学名
Rhipidura albiscapa
命名信息
Gould, 1840
Passeriformes
Rhipiduridae
Rhipidura

分布与栖息地

迁徙
Complete migrants

保护状况

种群趋势
unknown

照片

分布

鸟叫声

其他鸟类

Blue-winged Pitta

Blue-winged Pitta

Pitta moluccensis

A beautiful, rainbow-colored inhabitant of tropical forests; often bolder than other pittas and occasionally seen in city parks, especially while on migration. Stunning, with green back, blue wings, orange belly, and black mask. Solitary outside of the breeding season; usually seen hopping around in leaf litter and turning over debris in search of invertebrates. Listen for its bouncy song, a series of loud “weuh-wheew!” phrases.

White-bellied Drongo

White-bellied Drongo

Dicrurus caerulescens

A small drongo with a dull-black back and a relatively short, distinctively forked tail. The “white-bellied” form has an extensively white belly diffusely demarcated from the dark gray throat and breast. The “white-vented” from is restricted to Sri Lanka and is darker overall, with dark gray underparts and a white vent. The species is similar to juvenile Black and Ashy Drongos, which are larger and have smaller amounts of white, diffused with a dusky color or scaling, on the belly and vent. White-bellied is found in dry and open forests across the Indian subcontinent.

Dark-breasted Rosefinch

Dark-breasted Rosefinch

Procarduelis nipalensis

Dark medium-sized rosefinch. Male is is dark pink with a lighter throat and eyebrow. Female is dark brown with light wingbars. Both sexes can be similar to Vinaceous Rosefinch, but note male’s different head pattern and female’s unstreaked underparts and noticeable wingbars. Forages on the ground in montane and hill forest, forest edge, and rocky meadows and slopes. Gives a wheezy sparrow-like “wheer.”

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