Variegated Fairy-wren
Encyclopedia
The Variegated Fairywren (Malurus lamberti) is a fairywren that lives in diverse habitats spread across most of Australia
. Four subspecies are recognised. Exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism
, the brightly coloured breeding male has chestnut shoulders and blue crown and ear coverts, while non-breeding males, females and juveniles have predominantly grey-brown plumage. Notably, females of the two subspecies rogersi and dulcis (previously termed Lavender-flanked Fairywren) have mainly blue-grey plumage.
Like other fairywrens, the Variegated Fairywren 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. Male wrens pluck yellow petals and display them to females as part of a courtship display. These birds are primarily insectivorous and forage and live in the shelter of scrubby vegetation across 90% of continental Australia, which is a wider range than that of any other fairywren.
and Thomas Horsfield
in 1827, the Variegated Fairywren was initially considered to be a colour variant of the Superb Fairywren. The scientific name commemorates the British collector Aylmer Bourke Lambert
. 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 localised residents in restricted regions of Australia: the Lovely Fairywren (M. amabilis) of Cape York
, the Red-winged Fairywren (M. elegans) of the southwest corner of Western Australia, and the Blue-breasted Fairywren (M. pulcherrimus) of southern Western Australia and the Eyre Peninsula
. A 2011 analysis by Amy Driskell and colleagues of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA found that the Lovely Fairywren was nested within the Variegated Fairywren complex, and was the sister taxon of the Purple-backed subspecies assimilis.
Like other fairywrens, the Variegated 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
.
proposed a northern origin for the Chestnut-shouldered fairywren group due to the variety of forms in north and their absence in the southeast of the continent. Ancestral birds spread south and colonised the southwest during a warm 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 and yet another isolated in the northeast became the Lovely 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, resulting in the Purple-backed subspecies assimilis. This has resulted in the Variegated Fairywren's range to overlap with all three other species. Schodde also proposed that the blue-grey coloured females of the Lavender-flanked subspecies were ancestral, while the browner coloration of females of southern forms was an adaptation to dry climates. Further molecular studies may result in this hypothesis being modified.
The Variegated Fairywren is 14–15 cm (5.5–6 in) long and weighs 6–11 g (0.21–0.38 oz). Like other fairywrens, it 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 and ear tufts are prominently featured in breeding displays. The male in breeding plumage has striking bright blue ear coverts, with the crown often slightly darker, a black throat and nape, a royal blue upper back, chestnut shoulders and a bluish-grey tail. The wings are grey-brown and the belly creamy white. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour; all males have a black bill and lores (eye-ring and bare skin between eyes and bill), while females have a red-brown bill and bright rufous lores. Immature males will develop black bills by six months of age and moult into breeding plumage the first breeding season after hatching, though this may be incomplete with residual brownish plumage and may take another year or two to perfect. 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. 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
.
Vocal communication among Variegated Fairywrens is used primarily for communication between birds in a social group and for advertising and defending a territory. The basic song type is a high-pitched reel of a large number of short elements (10–20 per second); this lasts 1–4 seconds. The reel of the Variegated Fairywren is the softest of all malurids. Birds maintain contact with each other by tsst or seeee calls, while a short, sharp tsit serves as an alarm call.
, Eremophila
or Lignum (Muehlenbeckia florulenta
) in inland and northern Australia. They have been reported to shelter in mammal burrows to avoid extreme heat. In urban situations such as suburban Sydney
, these wrens have been said prefer areas with more cover than the related Superb Fairywren, though a 2007 survey in Sydney's northern suburbs has proposed that Variegated Fairywrens may prefer areas of higher plant diversity rather than denser cover as such. Forestry plantations of pine (Pinus spp.) and eucalypts are generally unsuitable as they lack undergrowth.
Like other fairywrens, male Variegated 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. Petals are displayed and presented to a female in the male fairywren's own or another territory.
The Variegated Fairywren is a cooperative breeding species, with pairs or small groups of birds maintaining and defending small territories year-round. Though less studied than the Superb- and Splendid Fairywrens, it is presumably socially monogamous and sexually promiscuous, with each partner mating with other individuals. Females and males feed young equally, while helper birds assist in defending the territory and feeding and rearing the young. Birds in a group roost side-by-side in dense cover as well as engage in mutual preening. Occasionally larger groups of around 10 birds have been recorded, though it is unclear whether this was incidental or a defined flock.
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.), and shrike-thrush
es (Colluricincla spp.), as well as introduced mammals such as the Red Fox
(Vulpes vulpes), feral cat
s and Black Rat
(Rattus rattus). The Variegated Fairywren readily adopts a 'Rodent-run' display to distract predators from nests with young birds. The head, neck and tail are lowered, the wings are held out and the feathers are fluffed as the bird runs rapidly and voices a continuous alarm call.
s and various larvae. Unlike the more ground-foraging Superb Fairywrens, they mostly forage deep inside shrubby vegetation, which is less than 2 m (7 ft) above the ground.
Breeding occurs from spring through to late summer; the nest
is generally situated in thick vegetation and less than 1 m (3 ft) 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. Two or more broods may be laid in an extended breeding season. A clutch consists of three or four matte white eggs
with reddish-brown splotches and spots, measuring 12 x 16 mm (.45 x .6 in). The female incubates the eggs for 14 to 16 days, after which newly hatched nestlings are fed and their fecal sac
s removed by all group members for 10–12 days, by which time they are fledged. Parents and helper birds will feed them for around one month. Young birds often remain in the family group as helpers for a year or more before moving to another group, though some move on and breed in the first year. Variegated Fairywrens commonly play host to the brood parasite
Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis) and, less commonly, the Brush Cuckoo
(Cacomantis variolosus) and Fan-tailed Cuckoo
(C. flabelliformis).
in the Australia Post
Nature of Australia - Desert issue released in June 2002.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Four subspecies are recognised. 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 brightly coloured breeding male has chestnut shoulders and blue crown and ear coverts, while non-breeding males, females and juveniles have predominantly grey-brown plumage. Notably, females of the two subspecies rogersi and dulcis (previously termed Lavender-flanked Fairywren) have mainly blue-grey plumage.
Like other fairywrens, the Variegated Fairywren 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. Male wrens pluck yellow petals and display them to females as part of a courtship display. These birds are primarily insectivorous and forage and live in the shelter of scrubby vegetation across 90% of continental Australia, which is a wider range than that of any other fairywren.
Taxonomy
The Variegated Fairywren was officially described by Nicholas Aylward VigorsNicholas Aylward Vigors
Nicholas Aylward Vigors was an Irish zoologist and politician.Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow. He studied at Trinity College, Oxford. He served in the army during the Peninsular War from 1809 to 1811. He then returned to Oxford, graduating with a B.A. in 1815 and in 1817 with an...
and Thomas Horsfield
Thomas Horsfield
Thomas Horsfield M. D. was an American physician and naturalist.Horsfield was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the grandson of Timothy Horsfield, Sr., a colonel and justice of the peace in Bethlehem, and a friend mentioned in Benjamin...
in 1827, the Variegated Fairywren was initially considered to be a colour variant of the Superb Fairywren. The scientific name commemorates the British collector Aylmer Bourke Lambert
Aylmer Bourke Lambert
Aylmer Bourke Lambert was a British botanist, one of the first fellows of the Linnean Society.He is best known for his work A description of the genus Pinus, issued in several parts 1803-1824, a sumptuously illustrated folio volume detailing all of the conifers then known...
. 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 localised residents in restricted regions of Australia: 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 Red-winged Fairywren (M. elegans) of the southwest corner of Western Australia, 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...
. A 2011 analysis by Amy Driskell and colleagues of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA found that the Lovely Fairywren was nested within the Variegated Fairywren complex, and was the sister taxon of the Purple-backed subspecies assimilis.
Like other fairywrens, the Variegated 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:...
.
Subspecies
Four subspecies are recognised; there are zones with intermediate forms between the ranges of each subspecies, contrasting with the well-defined borders between M. lamberti and the other chestnut-shouldered wrens. However, molecular analysis may shed more light on relationships and the current taxonomic treatment may change. The Purple-backed- and Lavender-flanked Fairywrens were considered distinct species in the past.- M. l. lamberti is the nominate subspecies from coastal eastern Australia and the original form described by Vigors and Horsfield in 1827. Unlike other subspecies, the head of a male in breeding plumage is a more uniform blue, with the crown azure and ear coverts lighter. It also has a blue rather than purple back.
- M. l. assimilis, commonly known as Purple-backed Fairywren, occurs across central Australia, from Queensland and western New South Wales to coastal Western Australia. It was initially described in 1901 by Australian ornithologist Alfred John NorthAlfred John NorthAlfred John North was an Australian ornithologist.North was born in Melbourne and was educated at Melbourne Grammar School...
and called the Purple-backed Superb Warbler. Breeding males of this and the other two northern subspecies differ from subspecies lamberti in having a darker violet blue crown and a purple back. Females are identical, however. There is a broad area where intermediate forms between this and subspecies lamberti live that is bordered by Goondiwindi, Wide BayDivision of Wide BayThe Division of Wide Bay is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election...
, RockhamptonRockhampton, QueenslandRockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....
and EmeraldEmerald, QueenslandEmerald is a town located in the Central Highlands district of Central Queensland, Australia. At the 2006 census, Emerald had a population of 10,999. The town is the business centre for the Central Highlands Regional Council....
in southern Queensland. - M. l. dulcis, commonly known as Lavender-flanked Fairywren, is found in Arnhem LandArnhem LandThe Arnhem Land Region is one of the five regions of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km from the territory capital Darwin. The region has an area of 97,000 km² which also covers the area of Kakadu National...
. It was described in 1908 by amateur ornithologist Gregory MathewsGregory MathewsGregory Macalister Mathews CBE was an Australian amateur ornithologist.Mathews made his fortune in mining shares, and moved to England around 1900....
, though this and subspecies rogersi were long considered forms of the Lovely Fairywren (M. amabilis) until integrades were noted over a wide area of northern Australia with subspecies assimilis. Like subspecies rogersi, females are predominantly blue-grey rather than grey-brown and have white lores and eye rings rather than the rufous coloration of the other subspecies. - M. l. rogersi occurs in the Kimberleys and was originally named by Mathews in 1912. It was also known as the Lavender-flanked Fairywren and considered as the same taxon. Though the males are similar to the widely occurring inland subspecies assimilis, the females are predominantly blue-grey rather than grey-brown. A broad hybrid zone with females of both subspecies has been recorded from northeastern Western Australia and the northwestern Northern Territory.
Evolutionary history
In his 1982 monograph, ornithologist Richard SchoddeRichard 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 north and their absence in the southeast of the continent. Ancestral birds spread south and colonised the southwest during a warm 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 and yet another isolated in the northeast became the Lovely 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, resulting in the Purple-backed subspecies assimilis. This has resulted in the Variegated Fairywren's range to overlap with all three other species. Schodde also proposed that the blue-grey coloured females of the Lavender-flanked subspecies were ancestral, while the browner coloration of females of southern forms was an adaptation to dry climates. Further molecular studies may result in this hypothesis being modified.
Description
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 and ear tufts are prominently featured in breeding displays. The male in breeding plumage has striking bright blue ear coverts, with the crown often slightly darker, a black throat and nape, a royal blue upper back, chestnut shoulders and a bluish-grey tail. The wings are grey-brown and the belly creamy white. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour; all males have a black bill and lores (eye-ring and bare skin between eyes and bill), while females have a red-brown bill and bright rufous lores. Immature males will develop black bills by six months of age and moult into breeding plumage the first breeding season after hatching, though this may be incomplete with residual brownish plumage and may take another year or two to perfect. 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. 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....
.
Vocal communication among Variegated Fairywrens is used primarily for communication between birds in a social group and for advertising and defending a territory. The basic song type is a high-pitched reel of a large number of short elements (10–20 per second); this lasts 1–4 seconds. The reel of the Variegated Fairywren is the softest of all malurids. Birds maintain contact with each other by tsst or seeee calls, while a short, sharp tsit serves as an alarm call.
Distribution and habitat
Distributed over 90% of the Australian continent, the Variegated Fairywren is found in scrubland with plenty of vegetation providing dense cover. It prefers rocky outcrops and patches of AcaciaAcacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
, Eremophila
Eremophila (plant)
Eremophila is a genus of plants of the family Scrophulariaceae, with species known by the common names of Emu Bush, Poverty Bush or Fuchsia Bush. Currently, there are 215 recognised species, all of which are endemic to Australia...
or Lignum (Muehlenbeckia florulenta
Muehlenbeckia florulenta
Muehlenbeckia florulenta, commonly known as Tangled Lignum or often simply Lignum, is a plant native to inland Australia. It is associated with wetland habitats, especially those in arid and semiarid regions subject to cycles of intermittent flooding and drying out...
) in inland and northern Australia. They have been reported to shelter in mammal burrows to avoid extreme heat. In urban situations such as suburban Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, these wrens have been said prefer areas with more cover than the related Superb Fairywren, though a 2007 survey in Sydney's northern suburbs has proposed that Variegated Fairywrens may prefer areas of higher plant diversity rather than denser cover as such. Forestry plantations of pine (Pinus spp.) and eucalypts are generally unsuitable as they lack undergrowth.
Behaviour
Like all fairywrens, the Variegated Fairywren is an active and restless feeder, particularly on open ground near shelter, but also through the lower foliage. Movement is a series of jaunty hops and bounces, its balance 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. 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 winter and they are required to spend the day foraging continuously.Like other fairywrens, male Variegated 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. Petals are displayed and presented to a female in the male fairywren's own or another territory.
The Variegated Fairywren is a cooperative breeding species, with pairs or small groups of birds maintaining and defending small territories year-round. Though less studied than the Superb- and Splendid Fairywrens, it is presumably socially monogamous and sexually promiscuous, with each partner mating with other individuals. Females and males feed young equally, while helper birds assist in defending the territory and feeding and rearing the young. Birds in a group roost side-by-side in dense cover as well as engage in mutual preening. Occasionally larger groups of around 10 birds have been recorded, though it is unclear whether this was incidental or a defined flock.
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.), and 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), feral 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...
s 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). The Variegated Fairywren readily adopts a 'Rodent-run' display to distract predators from nests with young birds. The head, neck and tail are lowered, the wings are held out and the feathers are fluffed as the bird runs rapidly and voices a continuous alarm call.
Diet
The Variegated Fairywren consumes a wide range of small creatures, mostly insects, including ants, grasshoppers, bugs, flies, weevilWeevil
A weevil is any beetle from the Curculionoidea superfamily. They are usually small, less than , and herbivorous. There are over 60,000 species in several families, mostly in the family Curculionidae...
s and various larvae. Unlike the more ground-foraging Superb Fairywrens, they mostly forage deep inside shrubby vegetation, which is less than 2 m (7 ft) above the ground.
Breeding
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 less than 1 m (3 ft) 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. Two or more broods may be laid in an extended breeding season. A clutch consists of three or four matte 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...
with reddish-brown splotches and spots, measuring 12 x 16 mm (.45 x .6 in). The female incubates the eggs for 14 to 16 days, after which newly hatched nestlings 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 10–12 days, by which time they are fledged. Parents and helper birds will feed them for around one month. Young birds often remain in the family group as helpers for a year or more before moving to another group, though some move on and breed in the first year. Variegated Fairywrens commonly play host to the 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...
Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis) and, less commonly, the Brush Cuckoo
Brush Cuckoo
The Brush Cuckoo, Cacomantis variolosus, is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis, and the Hoatzin....
(Cacomantis variolosus) 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:...
(C. flabelliformis).
Cultural depictions
The Variegated Fairywren appeared on a 45c postage stampPostage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
in the Australia Post
Australia Post
Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...
Nature of Australia - Desert issue released in June 2002.
External links
- BirdLife Species Factsheet
- IUCN Red List
- Variegated Fairywren videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Variegated Fairywren stamp