Rhipidura albiscapa
Description
The Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa) is a small insect eating bird between 14-16 centimetres long that is found in a wide variety of Australian forests. The birds are agile and almost continually on the move performing aerial twists and turns and fluttering about in the canopy of trees. They are easily recognised by their fanned tail which they swish back and forth. Both the male and female are similar in appearance and are grey above with white eyebrows, throat and tail edges while the juveniles are browner than adults.
Adaptations
- Both parents build a nest 2 to 5 metres above the ground in a thin tree fork which is constructed from grass bound together with web. The nest resembles a wine glass as the bottom of the nest is drawn out into a long stem
- The female lays two to three dull white to cream, long, oval-shaped eggs with brown freckles or blotches which are 16 by 13mm. Both parents incubate the eggs for 14 days. The young remain in the next for a further 12 days where they receive food from both parents before the young fledge
Feeding relationships
- What I eat: feed on flying insects such as flies, wasps and bees. Small insects they eat straight away once caught but with larger insects they carry back to their perch
- What eats me: Birds of prey, goannas and monitors steal chicks and eggs from nests, carpet snakes
Interesting facts
The Grey Fantail is capable of long flights and is regularly seen flying across Bass Strait which is approximately 250 km wide.