Fairy Gerygone (Gerygone palpebrosa) [XC529054]
by Iain Woxvold from Russell River NP, Queensland, Australia (song)
Fairy Gerygone (Gerygone palpebrosa) [XC757200]
by Niels Poul Dreyer from Lakefield, Cook Shire, Queensland, Australia (dawn song)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Mainly September - December.
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Nest
Roughly spherical, with a wispy tail-piece and a hooded side-entrance near the top, composed of thin strips of bark bound with cobweb, lined with plant-down and often decorated on the outside with scraps of moss or lichen, usualy suspended from a leafy end of a horizontal branch from 1 - 8 meters above the ground, often near a nest of wasps.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 3; pink-white, finely freckled, spotted red-brown; oval; about 18 x 13 mm. Incubation: probably by female only.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 10 days. Fed by both parents.
Subspecies
Sometimes thought that New Guinea subspecies represent one species and Australian personata and flavida two further species, but last two intergrade in north-eastern Queensland (from about Cooktown south to Townsville).
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
palpebrosa Wallace, 1865 - West Papua and Aru Island.
personata Gould, 1866 - Cape York Peninsula, Qld, south to about Cooktown and Upper Mitchell River, Qld.
flavida Ramsay, EP, 1877 - Coastal central-eastern Qld, from about Ingham, south to Gin Gin, intergrading with personata in the north, through the drainages of the Burdekin - Einasleigh - Mitchell Rivers.
wahnesi (Meyer, 1899) - Japen Island and northern New Guinea.
inconspicua E.P. Ramsay, 1879 - South-eastern Papua New Guinea, west to Upper Fly River.
tarara Rand, 1941 - Southern Papua New Guinea between Morehead and Fly Rivers.
Similar Species
White-throated Gerygone (Gerygone olivacea) which has white spots in the tail, a more clearly defined white throat patch and undertail, and stronger yellow coloration.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet