Other Names (World)
Jacky Winter, Allied Flycatcher, Brown Flycatcher, Australian Brown Flycatcher, Lesser Brown Flycatcher, Lesser Fascinating Bird, Peter-Peter, Postboy, Postsitter, Stump-bird, Spinks, White-tail, Jacky-winter
Nest
Very small, saucer-shaped, composed of fine grass mixed with horse-hair, scraps of bark, and lichen, in the angle of a forked horizontal dead branch of a tree from 1 - 20 meters above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
2, rarely 3; pale grey- or green-blue, marked all over with browns and lavender-grey, often forming a cap or band at the larger end; long-oval; about 20 x 15 mm. Incubation: 17 - 18 days; by both sexes.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 15 - 20 days. Fed by both parents.
Subspecies
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
fascinans (Latham, 1801) - Eastern Australia, from Atherton Tableland, Qld, south to Vic. and south-west to south-eastern SA, extending inland to the drainages of Barcoo - Thomson Rivers of Qld, central Murray - Darling Basin of New South Wales, but not to mallee of north-western Vic., and with outlier in Mt Lofty - southern Flinders Ranges.
assimilis Gould, 1841 - Southern Australia, from Murray - Mallee of SA - Vic. west to south-western Australia and north to central Flinders Ranges, centralian ranges of NT, and Shark Bay in WA.
pallida De Vis, 1885 - Northern WA, northern NT, south to upper Victoria River and Gulf of Carpentaria Drainages, lower Diamantina River and Cooper Creek drainages, and extending into far north-eastern SA.
zimmeri Mayr & Rand, 1935 - South-eastern New Guinea.
Similar Species
Lemon-bellied Flycatcher (Microeca flavigaster) the adult of which has a lemon-yellow belly, and lacks the white outer tail feathers and 'brown' red robins.
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