Common in the north-east, less common in the south-east. A breeding migrant to south-eastern Australia in October - April, migrant in north-eastern New South Wales, leaving the mountain rainforests in March - April, returning in September - October.
Habitat
Rainforest, dense, wet eucalypt and monsoon forests. Paperbark and mangrove swamps, riverside vegetation.
Voice
A very high-pitched, weak, 'tsit' or 'tsi-tsit'. Song is a squeak, accelerating into a risk, descending squeaky song, higher-pitched than the Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa).
Nest
Neat, cup-shaped, with a tail, composed of strips of bark, moss and grass, bound with cobweb, in a fork of a tree, up to about 5 meters above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
2, occasionally 3; pale stone to buff, with minute grey and lavender spots, usually in a zone at the larger end; long-oval; about 16 x 13 mm. Incubation: 14 - 15 days; by both sexes.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 10 days.
Subspecies
Rhipidura rufifrons (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993; Christidis and Boles 1994) has been split into Rufous Fantail (Rhipidura rufifrons) and Arafura Fantail (Rhipidura dryas) by Christidis and Boles (2008) but this treatment is not followed by the BirdLife International.
brunnea Mayr, 1931 - Malaita, in north-eastern Solomons.
rufofronta Ramsay, EP, 1879 - Guadalcanal, in central Solomons.
russata Tristram, 1879 - San Cristobal (Makira), in south-eastern Solomons.
ugiensis Mayr, 1931 - Uki I (off northern San Cristobal).
kuperi Mayr, 1931 - Santa Ana (off eastern San Cristobal).
agilis Mayr, 1931 - Santa Cruz Is (Santa Cruz).
utupuae Mayr, 1931 - Utupua, in central Santa Cruz Is.
melanolaema Sharpe, 1879 - Vanikoro Is, in southern Santa Cruz Is. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, White-fronted Fantail (Rhipidura melanolaema).
intermedia North, 1902 - North-eastern Australia (north-eastern Queensland).
rufifrons (Latham, 1801) - Breeds eastern Australia from south-eastern Queensland south to Victoria. Non-breeding northern Queensland and southern New Guinea (Trans-Fly region).
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