Red-winged Fairy-wren
Encyclopedia
The Red-winged Fairywren (Malurus elegans) is a species of passerine
bird
in the Maluridae
family. It is sedentary and endemic to the southwestern corner of Western Australia
. Exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism
, the male adopts a brilliantly coloured breeding plumage, with an iridescent silvery-blue crown, ear coverts and upper back, red shoulders, contrasting with a black throat, grey-brown tail and wings and pale underparts. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles have predominantly grey-brown plumage, though males may bear isolated blue and black feathers. No separate subspecies
are recognised. Similar in appearance and closely related to the Variegated Fairywren (M. lamberti) and the Blue-breasted Fairywren (M. pulcherrimus), it is regarded as a separate species as no intermediate forms have been recorded where ranges overlap. Though the Red-winged Fairywren is locally common, there is evidence of a decline in numbers.
Bearing a narrow pointed bill
adapted
for probing and catching insects, the Red-winged Fairywren is primarily insectivorous; it forages and lives in the shelter of scrubby vegetation in temperate wetter forests dominated by the Karri (Eucalyptus marginata), remaining close to cover to avoid predators. Like other fairywrens, it is a cooperative breeding species, with small groups of birds maintaining and defending small territories year-round. Groups consist of a socially monogamous pair with several helper
birds who assist in raising the young. There is a higher proportion of female helpers recorded for this species than for other species of fairywren. A variety of vocalisations
and visual displays have been recorded for communication and courtship in this species. Singing is used to advertise territory, and birds can distinguish other individuals on song alone. Male wrens pluck yellow petals and display them to females as part of a courtship display.
in 1837, who derived the bird's specific name derived from the Latin term elegans 'elegant'. He gave its location as the East Coast, but realised his error after further collections by John Gilbert from Southwestern Australia. Amateur ornithologist Gregory Mathews
described birds from the southern Karri forests as subspecies warreni in 1916 on the basis of darker female plumage. However, others have not observed this subsequently and the consensus is that no separate subspecies are recognized. In fact there is little variation in size or colour within the species between populations or individuals.
It is one of 12 species of the genus Malurus
, commonly known as fairywrens, found in Australia and lowland New Guinea
. Within the genus it belongs to a group of four very similar species known collectively as Chestnut-shouldered Fairywrens. The other three species are the Lovely Fairywren (M. amabilis) of Cape York
, the Variegated Fairywren (M. lamberti) found across most of the continent, and the Blue-breasted Fairywren (M. pulcherrimus) of southern Western Australia and the Eyre Peninsula
. Molecular study showed the Blue-breasted Fairywren to be the most closely related to the Red-winged Fairywren.
Like other fairywrens, the Red-winged Fairywren is unrelated to the true wren
s. Initially fairywrens were thought to be a member of the old world flycatcher family Muscicapidae or warbler family Sylviidae
before being placed in the newly recognised Maluridae
in 1975. More recently, DNA
analysis has shown the family to be related to Meliphagidae (honeyeater
s) and the Pardalotidae in a large superfamily Meliphagoidea
.
, ornithologist Richard Schodde
proposed a northern origin for the Chestnut-shouldered Fairywren group due to the variety of forms in the north and their absence in the southeast of the continent. Ancestral birds spread south and colonised the southwest during a warm and wetter period around 2 million years ago at the end of the Pliocene
or beginning of the Pleistocene
. Subsequent cooler and drier conditions resulted in loss of habitat and fragmentation of populations. Southwestern birds gave rise to what is now the Red-winged Fairywren, while those in the northwest of the continent became the Variegated Fairywren. Further warmer, humid conditions again allowed birds to spread southwards; this group, occupying central southern Australia east to the Eyre Peninsula
, became the Blue-breasted Fairywren. Cooler climate after this resulted in this being isolated as well and evolving into a separate species. Finally, after the end of the last glacial period 12,000–13,000 years ago, the northern Variegated forms have again spread southwards. This has resulted in the ranges of all three species overlapping. Further molecular studies may result in this hypothesis being modified.
The Red-winged Fairywren is 15 cm (6 in) long and weighs 8–11 g (0.21–0.38 oz), making it the largest of the fairywrens. The average tail length is 7.5 cm (3 in), among the longest in the genus. Averaging 10 mm (0.393700787401575 in) in males and 9.3 mm (0.366141732283465 in) in females, the bill is relatively long, narrow and pointed and wider at the base. Wider than it is deep, the bill is similar in shape to those of other birds that feed by probing for or picking insects off their environs.
Like other fairywrens, the Red-winged Fairywren is notable for its marked sexual dimorphism
, males adopting a highly visible breeding plumage of brilliant iridescent blue and chestnut contrasting with black and grey-brown. The brightly coloured crown, ear tufts and upper back are prominently featured in breeding displays. The male in breeding plumage has a silvery blue crown, ear coverts and upper back, a black throat and nape, bright red-brown shoulders, a long grey-brown tail and wings, and greyish-white belly. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour, though males may retain traces of blue and black plumage. All males have a black bill and lores (eye-ring and bare skin between eyes and bill), while females have a black bill, rufous lores and pale grey eye-ring. Immature males will develop black lores by six weeks of age and generally moult into an incomplete breeding plumage the first breeding season after hatching. This has a patchy or spotty appearance, with a mixture of blue and grey feathers on the head, and black and grey on the breast; birds born early in the breeding season will gain more nuptial plumage initially than those born late. Most perfect their nuptial moult by their second spring, though some may need another year. Several males have been observed in breeding plumage in a single group at the same time, although it is unknown if or how this is related to dominance or breeding status.
Both sexes moult in autumn after breeding, with males assuming an eclipse non-breeding plumage. They will moult again into nuptial plumage in winter or spring. Body feathers are replaced at both moults while wing and tail feathers are in spring only, though the latter may be replaced at any time if damaged or worn. The blue coloured plumage, particularly the ear-coverts, of the breeding males is highly iridescent due to the flattened and twisted surface of the barbules. The blue plumage also reflects ultraviolet
light strongly, and so may be even more prominent to other fairywrens, whose colour vision extends into this part of the spectrum
.
The Red-winged Fairywren occurs in the wetter, southwest corner of Western Australia, from Moore River
north of Perth
south through to the Margaret River
region and east to Albany
. It is common in parts of its range, though there is some evidence of decline from draining of swampland. It lives in the understorey of Karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) and Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata). Older forests appear to be less favourable habitats, while birds appear to be attracted to disturbed areas after logging. Fire also results in populations disappearing, returning after a period of two years.
Forestry plantations of pine (Pinus spp.) and eucalypts are generally unsuitable as they lack undergrowth.
Within the forest habitat, the Red-winged Fairywren prefers wetter gullies and riverside Sword Sedge (Lepidosperma effusum
). It borders the range of the Variegated Fairywren on the northern limit of its range, and the Blue-breasted Fairywren in the eastern limit, with the latter two species occupying dryer scrub while the Red-winged Fairywren is restricted to wetter forests. The lack of intermediate forms reinforces the status of all three taxa as separate species.
The Red-winged Fairywren is a cooperative breeding species, with a pair or small group of birds maintaining and defending a territory year-round. These territories average around 0.4–2.4 hectare
s (1–6 acre
s) in optimal habitat of tall Karri forest, although are smaller and restricted to dense riverbank undergrowth in less favourable habitat.
The area maintained is large enough to support the group in poor years or to accommodate new members after a good breeding season. Groups range from two to nine members in size with an average of four birds, the largest for any fairywren studied to date. This is thought to be due to a very high annual survival and occupancy of suitable territory. Though reproduction rates are low, young birds still have few vacancies available for them to disperse into. Pairs are socially monogamous, with relationships ending for the most part when one partner dies. The survivor in this case selects a new partner, often a helper bird in the group. Though not directly studied, paired Red-winged Fairywrens are likely to be sexually promiscuous, with each partner mating with other individuals. Female helpers are much more common in this species than the other species intensively studied, the Superb Fairywren (M. cyaneus). Over half the groups have two or more helpers, often female, which feed nestlings and reduce workload of breeding females. Helpers have been shown to improve reproductive success in this species by increasing the numbers of young raised successfully per year from 1.3 to 2 birds. There is some evidence that groups with male helpers may enlarge the territory boundaries with a subsequent 'budding-off' of a new territory by a helper.
Major nest predators include Australian Magpie
s (Gymnorhina tibicen), butcherbird
s (Cracticus spp.), Laughing Kookaburra
(Dacelo novaeguineae), currawong
s (Strepera spp.), crow
s and raven
s (Corvus spp.), shrike-thrush
es (Colluricincla spp.) as well as introduced mammals such as the Red Fox
(Vulpes vulpes), cat
and Black Rat
(Rattus rattus). Like other species of fairy wrens, Red-winged Fairywrens may use a 'Rodent-run' display to distract predators from nests with young birds. While doing this, the head, neck and tail of the bird are lowered, the wings are held out and the feathers are fluffed as the bird runs rapidly and voices a continuous alarm call.
Observed in this species, the 'Wing-fluttering' display is seen in several situations: females responding, and presumably acquiescing, to male courtship displays, juveniles while begging for food, by helpers to older birds, and immature males to senior ones. The fairywren lowers its head and tail, outstretches and quivers its wings and holds its beak open silently.
(Pteridium esculentum) and low shrubs, as well as in leaf-litter on the ground near shelter. It will occasionally ascend trees up to 5 m (16 ft) above the ground in the understorey, particularly in the late summer and autumn as the flaking eucalypt bark is a rich source of arthropod
s. However, birds are exposed to potential predators and forays are therefore brief. It consumes a wide range of small creatures, mostly insects, eating ants and beetles year-round, and adding spiders, bugs and caterpillars to their diet during breeding season. During spring and summer, birds are active in bursts through the day and accompany their foraging with song. Insects are numerous and easy to catch, which allows the birds to rest between forays. The group often shelters and rests together during the heat of the day. Food is harder to find during the winter and they are required to spend the day foraging continuously. Ants in particular are an important food source during this period, constituting a much higher proportion of the diet.
The breeding season is shorter than that of other fairywrens, occurring from October (rarely September) through to December. Constructed solely by the female, the nest
is generally situated in thick vegetation and around 20 cm (8 in) above the ground. It is a round or domed structure made of loosely woven grasses and spider web
s, with an entrance in one side. The interior may be lined with finer grass and material from Clematis pubescens
and Banksia grandis
. One or rarely two broods may be laid in a season, the second being laid on average 51 days after the first. A clutch consists of two or three matte cream-white eggs
tapered oval in shape with reddish-brown splotches and spots, measuring 12 x 16 mm (.45 x .6 in). The female incubates the eggs alone for around an hour at a time, after which the male calls her and she will leave to forage urgently for 15–30 minutes before returning. Her long tail is often bent from the cramped nest space and is a useful field indicator of nesting. Incubation takes 14 to 15 days, a day less in later broods, and an estimated 94% of eggs hatch successfully. The newly hatched nestlings are altricial
–raw red in colour, naked and blind. Within a day, their skin darkens to blue–grey colour as their feathers develop underneath. Sheathed primary feathers emerge through the skin by the third day and eyes begin to open on the fifth day and fully open on the next. Young are fed and their fecal sac
s removed by all group members for 11–12 days, by which time they are fledged. Though fully feathered, their tails and wings are not fully grown and they are poor fliers. Their wings take another 10 days to develop fully, during which time they generally stay well hidden in cover near the nest. Parents and helper birds will feed them for around one month after fledging. Young birds often remain in the family group as helpers for a year or more before moving to another group. Birds reach sexual maturity at one year of age, but females tend not to breed until their third year as breeding vacancies are scarce. The nests of Red-winged Fairywrens rarely play host to brood parasite
s, though parasitism by the Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis) and Fan-tailed Cuckoo
(Cacomantis flabelliformis) has been recorded.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
in the Maluridae
Maluridae
The Maluridae are a family of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens of the Northern Hemisphere...
family. It is sedentary and endemic to the southwestern corner of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. Exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
, the male adopts a brilliantly coloured breeding plumage, with an iridescent silvery-blue crown, ear coverts and upper back, red shoulders, contrasting with a black throat, grey-brown tail and wings and pale underparts. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles have predominantly grey-brown plumage, though males may bear isolated blue and black feathers. No separate subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
are recognised. Similar in appearance and closely related to the Variegated Fairywren (M. lamberti) and the Blue-breasted Fairywren (M. pulcherrimus), it is regarded as a separate species as no intermediate forms have been recorded where ranges overlap. Though the Red-winged Fairywren is locally common, there is evidence of a decline in numbers.
Bearing a narrow pointed bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
adapted
Adaptation
An adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation....
for probing and catching insects, the Red-winged Fairywren is primarily insectivorous; it forages and lives in the shelter of scrubby vegetation in temperate wetter forests dominated by the Karri (Eucalyptus marginata), remaining close to cover to avoid predators. Like other fairywrens, it is a cooperative breeding species, with small groups of birds maintaining and defending small territories year-round. Groups consist of a socially monogamous pair with several helper
Helpers at the nest
Helpers at the nest is a term used in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology to describe a social structure in which juveniles and sexually mature adolescents of either one or both sexes, remain in association with their parents and help them raise subsequent broods or litters, instead of...
birds who assist in raising the young. There is a higher proportion of female helpers recorded for this species than for other species of fairywren. A variety of vocalisations
Bird song
Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs are distinguished by function from calls.-Definition:The distinction between songs and calls is based upon...
and visual displays have been recorded for communication and courtship in this species. Singing is used to advertise territory, and birds can distinguish other individuals on song alone. Male wrens pluck yellow petals and display them to females as part of a courtship display.
Taxonomy
The Red-winged Fairywren was officially described by ornithologist John GouldJohn Gould
John Gould was an English ornithologist and bird artist. The Gould League in Australia was named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
in 1837, who derived the bird's specific name derived from the Latin term elegans 'elegant'. He gave its location as the East Coast, but realised his error after further collections by John Gilbert from Southwestern Australia. Amateur ornithologist Gregory Mathews
Gregory Mathews
Gregory Macalister Mathews CBE was an Australian amateur ornithologist.Mathews made his fortune in mining shares, and moved to England around 1900....
described birds from the southern Karri forests as subspecies warreni in 1916 on the basis of darker female plumage. However, others have not observed this subsequently and the consensus is that no separate subspecies are recognized. In fact there is little variation in size or colour within the species between populations or individuals.
It is one of 12 species of the genus Malurus
Malurus
Malurus is a genus of bird in the Maluridae family.It contains the following species:* White-shouldered Fairywren * Lovely Fairywren * Purple-crowned Fairywren...
, commonly known as fairywrens, found in Australia and lowland New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. Within the genus it belongs to a group of four very similar species known collectively as Chestnut-shouldered Fairywrens. The other three species are the Lovely Fairywren (M. amabilis) of Cape York
Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth...
, the Variegated Fairywren (M. lamberti) found across most of the continent, and the Blue-breasted Fairywren (M. pulcherrimus) of southern Western Australia and the Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded on the east by Spencer Gulf, the west by the Great Australian Bight, and the north by the Gawler Ranges. It is named after explorer Edward John Eyre who explored some of it in 1839-1841. The coastline was first explored by...
. Molecular study showed the Blue-breasted Fairywren to be the most closely related to the Red-winged Fairywren.
Like other fairywrens, the Red-winged Fairywren is unrelated to the true wren
Wren
The wrens are passerine birds in the mainly New World family Troglodytidae. There are approximately 80 species of true wrens in approximately 20 genera....
s. Initially fairywrens were thought to be a member of the old world flycatcher family Muscicapidae or warbler family Sylviidae
Sylviidae
Sylviidae is a family of passerine birds that was part of an assemblage known as the Old World warblers. The family was formerly a wastebin taxon with over 400 species of bird in over 70 genera. The family was poorly defined with many characteristics shared with other families...
before being placed in the newly recognised Maluridae
Maluridae
The Maluridae are a family of small, insectivorous passerine birds endemic to Australia and New Guinea. Commonly known as wrens, they are unrelated to the true wrens of the Northern Hemisphere...
in 1975. More recently, DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
analysis has shown the family to be related to Meliphagidae (honeyeater
Honeyeater
The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family of small to medium sized birds most common in Australia and New Guinea, but also found in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Samoa and Tonga, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as Wallacea...
s) and the Pardalotidae in a large superfamily Meliphagoidea
Meliphagoidea
Meliphagoidea is a superfamily of passerine birds. They contain a vast diversity of small to mid-sized songbirds widespread in the Austropacific region. The Australian Continent has the largest richness in genera and species.-Systematics:...
.
Evolutionary history
In his 1982 monographMonograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
, ornithologist Richard Schodde
Richard Schodde
Richard Schodde, OAM is an Australian botanist and ornithologist.Schodde studied at the University of Adelaide where he received a BSc in 1960 and a PhD in 1970. During the 1960s he was a botanist with the CSIRO Division of Land Research and Regional Survey in Papua New Guinea...
proposed a northern origin for the Chestnut-shouldered Fairywren group due to the variety of forms in the north and their absence in the southeast of the continent. Ancestral birds spread south and colonised the southwest during a warm and wetter period around 2 million years ago at the end of the Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
or beginning of the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
. Subsequent cooler and drier conditions resulted in loss of habitat and fragmentation of populations. Southwestern birds gave rise to what is now the Red-winged Fairywren, while those in the northwest of the continent became the Variegated Fairywren. Further warmer, humid conditions again allowed birds to spread southwards; this group, occupying central southern Australia east to the Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded on the east by Spencer Gulf, the west by the Great Australian Bight, and the north by the Gawler Ranges. It is named after explorer Edward John Eyre who explored some of it in 1839-1841. The coastline was first explored by...
, became the Blue-breasted Fairywren. Cooler climate after this resulted in this being isolated as well and evolving into a separate species. Finally, after the end of the last glacial period 12,000–13,000 years ago, the northern Variegated forms have again spread southwards. This has resulted in the ranges of all three species overlapping. Further molecular studies may result in this hypothesis being modified.
Description
Like other fairywrens, the Red-winged Fairywren is notable for its marked sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
, males adopting a highly visible breeding plumage of brilliant iridescent blue and chestnut contrasting with black and grey-brown. The brightly coloured crown, ear tufts and upper back are prominently featured in breeding displays. The male in breeding plumage has a silvery blue crown, ear coverts and upper back, a black throat and nape, bright red-brown shoulders, a long grey-brown tail and wings, and greyish-white belly. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour, though males may retain traces of blue and black plumage. All males have a black bill and lores (eye-ring and bare skin between eyes and bill), while females have a black bill, rufous lores and pale grey eye-ring. Immature males will develop black lores by six weeks of age and generally moult into an incomplete breeding plumage the first breeding season after hatching. This has a patchy or spotty appearance, with a mixture of blue and grey feathers on the head, and black and grey on the breast; birds born early in the breeding season will gain more nuptial plumage initially than those born late. Most perfect their nuptial moult by their second spring, though some may need another year. Several males have been observed in breeding plumage in a single group at the same time, although it is unknown if or how this is related to dominance or breeding status.
Both sexes moult in autumn after breeding, with males assuming an eclipse non-breeding plumage. They will moult again into nuptial plumage in winter or spring. Body feathers are replaced at both moults while wing and tail feathers are in spring only, though the latter may be replaced at any time if damaged or worn. The blue coloured plumage, particularly the ear-coverts, of the breeding males is highly iridescent due to the flattened and twisted surface of the barbules. The blue plumage also reflects ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
light strongly, and so may be even more prominent to other fairywrens, whose colour vision extends into this part of the spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" of an object is the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object....
.
Vocalisations
Vocal communication among Red-winged Fairywrens is used primarily for communication between birds in a social group and for advertising and defending a territory. They are able to distinguish different individuals on the basis of song alone, which is integral to the identification of group members and strangers. The basic, or Type I, song is a 1–4 second high-pitched reel consisting of 10–20 short elements per second; it is sung by both males and females, particularly when there is a dispute over territory boundaries. Singing occurs most frequently before and just after dawn. Foraging birds maintain contact with each other by soft, repeating see-see-see descending tones, while a loud, sharp tsit serves as an alarm call.Lifespan
Survival of fairywrens from one season to the next is generally high for such small birds, and the Red-winged Fairywren has the highest rate of all—with 78% of breeding males and 77% of breeding females surviving from year to year. It is not unusual for Red-winged Fairywrens to reach 10 years of age, and the oldest known individual to date attained an age of 16 years.Distribution and habitat
Moore River (Western Australia)
Moore River is a river in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia.The headwaters of the river near Walebing and flow westerly before joining with the Moore river East near Mogumber then flow in a Westerly direction...
north of Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
south through to the Margaret River
Margaret River, Western Australia
Margaret River is a town in the South West of Western Australia, located in the valley of the eponymous Margaret River, south of Perth, the state capital. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River....
region and east to Albany
Albany, Western Australia
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
. It is common in parts of its range, though there is some evidence of decline from draining of swampland. It lives in the understorey of Karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) and Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata). Older forests appear to be less favourable habitats, while birds appear to be attracted to disturbed areas after logging. Fire also results in populations disappearing, returning after a period of two years.
Forestry plantations of pine (Pinus spp.) and eucalypts are generally unsuitable as they lack undergrowth.
Within the forest habitat, the Red-winged Fairywren prefers wetter gullies and riverside Sword Sedge (Lepidosperma effusum
Lepidosperma effusum
Lepidosperma effusum, commonly known as the riverside sword sedge or spreading sword sedge, is an evergreen species of sedge that is native to southwest Western Australia. It occurs from the Perth region south through the Margaret River region and eastwards to Albany. It was described by English...
). It borders the range of the Variegated Fairywren on the northern limit of its range, and the Blue-breasted Fairywren in the eastern limit, with the latter two species occupying dryer scrub while the Red-winged Fairywren is restricted to wetter forests. The lack of intermediate forms reinforces the status of all three taxa as separate species.
Behaviour
Hopping, with both feet leaving the ground and landing simultaneously, is the usual form of locomotion, though birds may run while performing the 'Rodent Run Display' detailed below. Its balance is assisted by a proportionally large tail, which is usually held upright and rarely still. The short, rounded wings provide good initial lift and are useful for short flights, though not for extended jaunts.The Red-winged Fairywren is a cooperative breeding species, with a pair or small group of birds maintaining and defending a territory year-round. These territories average around 0.4–2.4 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s (1–6 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s) in optimal habitat of tall Karri forest, although are smaller and restricted to dense riverbank undergrowth in less favourable habitat.
The area maintained is large enough to support the group in poor years or to accommodate new members after a good breeding season. Groups range from two to nine members in size with an average of four birds, the largest for any fairywren studied to date. This is thought to be due to a very high annual survival and occupancy of suitable territory. Though reproduction rates are low, young birds still have few vacancies available for them to disperse into. Pairs are socially monogamous, with relationships ending for the most part when one partner dies. The survivor in this case selects a new partner, often a helper bird in the group. Though not directly studied, paired Red-winged Fairywrens are likely to be sexually promiscuous, with each partner mating with other individuals. Female helpers are much more common in this species than the other species intensively studied, the Superb Fairywren (M. cyaneus). Over half the groups have two or more helpers, often female, which feed nestlings and reduce workload of breeding females. Helpers have been shown to improve reproductive success in this species by increasing the numbers of young raised successfully per year from 1.3 to 2 birds. There is some evidence that groups with male helpers may enlarge the territory boundaries with a subsequent 'budding-off' of a new territory by a helper.
Major nest predators include Australian Magpie
Australian Magpie
The Australian Magpie is a medium-sized black and white passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. A member of the Artamidae, it is closely related to the butcherbirds...
s (Gymnorhina tibicen), butcherbird
Butcherbird
Butcherbirds are magpie-like birds in the genus Cracticus. They are native to Australasia. Their closest relatives are the three species of currawong...
s (Cracticus spp.), Laughing Kookaburra
Laughing Kookaburra
The Laughing Kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae, is a carnivorous bird in the kingfisher family Halcyonidae. Native to eastern Australia, it has also been introduced to parts of New Zealand, Tasmania and Western Australia. Male and female adults are similar in plumage, which is predominantly brown and...
(Dacelo novaeguineae), currawong
Currawong
Currawongs are three species of medium-sized passerine birds belonging to the genus Strepera in the family Artamidae native to Australasia. These are the Grey Currawong , Pied Currawong , and Black Currawong . The common name comes from the call of the familiar Pied Currawong of eastern Australia...
s (Strepera spp.), crow
Crow
Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents and several...
s and raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
s (Corvus spp.), shrike-thrush
Shrike-thrush
Colluricincla is a bird genus in the family Colluricinclidae, which was formerly included in the Pachycephalidae. Its members are known as the shrikethrushes.It contains the following species:* Bower's Shrikethrush, Colluricincla boweri...
es (Colluricincla spp.) as well as introduced mammals such as the Red Fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
(Vulpes vulpes), cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
and Black Rat
Black Rat
The black rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae . The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.-Taxonomy:The black rat was...
(Rattus rattus). Like other species of fairy wrens, Red-winged Fairywrens may use a 'Rodent-run' display to distract predators from nests with young birds. While doing this, the head, neck and tail of the bird are lowered, the wings are held out and the feathers are fluffed as the bird runs rapidly and voices a continuous alarm call.
Observed in this species, the 'Wing-fluttering' display is seen in several situations: females responding, and presumably acquiescing, to male courtship displays, juveniles while begging for food, by helpers to older birds, and immature males to senior ones. The fairywren lowers its head and tail, outstretches and quivers its wings and holds its beak open silently.
Feeding
Like all fairywrens, the Red-winged Fairywren is an active and restless feeder, foraging in brackenBracken
Bracken are several species of large, coarse ferns of the genus Pteridium. Ferns are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells . Brackens are in the family Dennstaedtiaceae, which are noted for their large, highly...
(Pteridium esculentum) and low shrubs, as well as in leaf-litter on the ground near shelter. It will occasionally ascend trees up to 5 m (16 ft) above the ground in the understorey, particularly in the late summer and autumn as the flaking eucalypt bark is a rich source of arthropod
Arthropod
An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...
s. However, birds are exposed to potential predators and forays are therefore brief. It consumes a wide range of small creatures, mostly insects, eating ants and beetles year-round, and adding spiders, bugs and caterpillars to their diet during breeding season. During spring and summer, birds are active in bursts through the day and accompany their foraging with song. Insects are numerous and easy to catch, which allows the birds to rest between forays. The group often shelters and rests together during the heat of the day. Food is harder to find during the winter and they are required to spend the day foraging continuously. Ants in particular are an important food source during this period, constituting a much higher proportion of the diet.
Courtship and breeding
Like other fairywrens, male Red-winged Fairywrens have been observed carrying brightly coloured petals to display to females as part of a courtship ritual. In this species, the petals that have been recorded have been yellow or, rarely, white. Petals are displayed and presented to a female in the male fairywren's own or another territory. The 'Face fan' display is commonly seen as a part of aggressive or sexual display behaviours; it involves the flaring of the blue ear tufts by erecting the feathers. The silvery blue upper back feathers are also used more prominently in display than other species.The breeding season is shorter than that of other fairywrens, occurring from October (rarely September) through to December. Constructed solely by the female, the nest
Bird nest
A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American Robin or Eurasian Blackbird, or the elaborately woven hanging nest of the...
is generally situated in thick vegetation and around 20 cm (8 in) above the ground. It is a round or domed structure made of loosely woven grasses and spider web
Spider web
A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....
s, with an entrance in one side. The interior may be lined with finer grass and material from Clematis pubescens
Clematis pubescens
Clematis pubescens, known locally as Common Clematis, is a climbing shrub of the Ranunculaceae family, found in coastal regions of southern Western Australia....
and Banksia grandis
Banksia grandis
Banksia grandis, commonly known as Bull Banksia, Giant Banksia or Mangite, is a common and distinctive tree in South West Western Australia....
. One or rarely two broods may be laid in a season, the second being laid on average 51 days after the first. A clutch consists of two or three matte cream-white eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
tapered oval in shape with reddish-brown splotches and spots, measuring 12 x 16 mm (.45 x .6 in). The female incubates the eggs alone for around an hour at a time, after which the male calls her and she will leave to forage urgently for 15–30 minutes before returning. Her long tail is often bent from the cramped nest space and is a useful field indicator of nesting. Incubation takes 14 to 15 days, a day less in later broods, and an estimated 94% of eggs hatch successfully. The newly hatched nestlings are altricial
Altricial
Altricial, meaning "requiring nourishment", refers to a pattern of growth and development in organisms which are incapable of moving around on their own soon after hatching or being born...
–raw red in colour, naked and blind. Within a day, their skin darkens to blue–grey colour as their feathers develop underneath. Sheathed primary feathers emerge through the skin by the third day and eyes begin to open on the fifth day and fully open on the next. Young are fed and their fecal sac
Fecal sac
A fecal sac is a mucous membrane, generally white or clear with a dark end, that surrounds the feces of some species of nestling birds. It allows parent birds to more easily remove fecal material from the nest...
s removed by all group members for 11–12 days, by which time they are fledged. Though fully feathered, their tails and wings are not fully grown and they are poor fliers. Their wings take another 10 days to develop fully, during which time they generally stay well hidden in cover near the nest. Parents and helper birds will feed them for around one month after fledging. Young birds often remain in the family group as helpers for a year or more before moving to another group. Birds reach sexual maturity at one year of age, but females tend not to breed until their third year as breeding vacancies are scarce. The nests of Red-winged Fairywrens rarely play host to brood parasite
Brood parasite
Brood parasites are organisms that use the strategy of brood parasitism, a kind of kleptoparasitism found among birds, fish or insects, involving the manipulation and use of host individuals either of the same or different species to raise the young of the brood-parasite...
s, though parasitism by the Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis) and Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
The Fan-tailed Cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the Cuculidae family.It is found in Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.-Habitat:...
(Cacomantis flabelliformis) has been recorded.
External links
- BirdLife Species Factsheet
- Red-winged Fairy-wren videos on the Internet Bird Collection