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 LC    Grey Fantail* Id (Atlas): 361
    Rhipidura albiscapa

Description
Image of Grey Fantail
 

Other Names (World)
Grey Fantail, Gray Fantail, Dusky Fantail(!), White-shafted Fantail, Cranky Fantail, White-tailed Fantail (albicauda), Black Fantail, Fawn-breasted Fantail, Grey-collared Fantail, Gray-collared Fantail, Land Fantail, Pied Fantail, Western Fantail, White-fronted Fantail, Cranky Fan, Mad Fan, Devilbird, Fanny, Fanny Devilbird, Fanny Fantail, Fanny Greyfan, Fanny Grayfan, Fan-tailed Flycatcher, Snapper

Family
Rhipiduridae (Fantails)

Size
15 - 16 cm

First Described
Gould, 1840

Derivation
Rhip-id-ur'-a - Gk, rhipis, rhipidos, fan; Gk, ura (oura), tail: albiscapa - ?

Abundance
C

Common. In south-western Western Australia a regular migrant, moving north, inland and down from mountain forests in March - April, returning September - October to breed.

Habitat
Inland and coastal scrubs, magroves, rainforests, eucalypt forest and woodlands, watercourses, orchards, parks, gardens.

Range (Guide)
Australia.
 
Image of Range of Grey Fantail
Throughout Australia and Tasmania.
 
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Status LC
Estimated population is unknown (2010).

Secure.

See also EPBC Act List of Threatened Fauna for subspecies cervina (Lord Howe Island - extinct).

For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Habits
Singly or in pairs.

Food
Insects.

Voice
A sharp, 'dek'. A sweet, tinny, animated fiddle-like song, ascending, ending in drwan-out, rising, silvery notes.



Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (103)...)

 
Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa) [XC613050]
     by Eliot Miller from Ilvualam gardens, Vanuatu (song)

 
Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa) [XC830797]
     by Peter Boesman from Neck Reserve Camping Area (near South Bruny), Kingborough Council, Tasmania, Australia (call)

Breeding Season
July - December.

J F M A M J J A S O N D
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


Nest
Wine-glass shaped, usually with a tail, well contructed, composed of fibrous material bound with cobweb, lined with fine dry grass, usually on a thin horizontal fork, from 1 - 20 meters above the ground.

Eggs
2, sometimes 3 or 4; dull white to cream, minutely freckled or blotched with brown in a zone; long-oval; about 16 x 13 mm. Incubation: 13 - 14 days.

Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 10 - 16 days.

Subspecies
Rhipidura fuliginosa (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993; Turbott 1990; Christidis and Boles 1994) has been split into New Zealand Fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa) and Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa) by Christidis and Boles (2008) but this treatment is not followed by the BirdLife International.

Forms a superspecies with Chestnut-bellied Fantail (Rhipidura hyperythra), Friendly Fantail (Rhipidura albolimbata), New Zealand Fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa) and Mangrove Grey Fantail (Rhipidura phasiana). Often considered conspecific with New Zealand Fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa).

The following 8 subspecies are recognised:

  • brenchleyi Sharpe, 1879   -  South-eastern Solomon Is (San Cristobal), Banks Is and Vanuatu.
  • bulgeri Layard, EL, 1877   -  New Caledonia and Loyalty Is (Lifou).
  • pelzelni Gray, GR, 1862   -  Norfolk I.
  • keasti Ford, 1981   -  North-eastern Australia (highlands of Atherton Tablelands and Clarke Range, in north-eastern Queensland).
  • albicauda North, 1895   -  Central Australia.
  • alisteri Mathews, 1911   -  EC, south-eastern and south-central Australia; on migration to northern Australia and, possibly, New Guinea.
  • albiscapa Gould, 1840   -  Tasmania and Bass Strait islands. Non-breeding south-eastern Australia.
  • preissi Cabanis, 1850   -  South-western Australia; on migration to north-western Australia.


Similar Species
Mangrove Grey Fantail (Rhipidura phasiana) which is slightly smaller, has a longer bill, a large prominent white eyebrow and Northern Fantail (Rhipidura rufiventris) which is larger, has a longer, broader bill, and a shorter, less-fanned tail.

Compare Images


References
See References.

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