Adult fantails

Following on from last week’s post is an adult fantail captured mid-shake after bathing.

Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 1600

Adult Grey Fantails often retain buff colouring on their breasts, below their black-banded white throats.

Six sub-species of Grey Fantail can be found across Australia where their ranges overlap in places. It’s interesting to look at fantails closely to work out which species they are. Several years ago a fantail visited my garden that looked and behaved like an inland albicauda. We presumed it might have joined with birds migrating from Victoria. It’s outer tail feathers were much whiter than the albiscapa and it foraged by flying about a metre above the ground (rather than higher up around the trees) as fantails do in more arid environments.

Providing fresh water for garden birds is important for more reasons than drinking. Birds also need to bathe to help remove parasites, cleanse their feathers and to help regulate their temperature on hot days. I mention safety considerations about birdbaths in an earlier post: Water birds and waterbirds

Happy birding

Kim

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PS  Apologies that this week’s post is shorter than usual, I’m working on a photography presentation that needs my attention