Habits
Usually in small groups, with brown-plumaged birds dominating.
Food
Mostly small insects.
Voice
Song: begins with a very high-pitched, yet weak, squeak, that can only be heard when close, then continuing with a trill, 'sreee-sreee-trichee-trichee-tchakka-tchakka-tchakka', usually uttered by males in the breeding season. A 'tsiet' contact call. A loud, sharp 'trrrit' in alarm.
Red-backed Fairywren (Malurus melanocephalus) [XC438950]
by Marc Anderson from Mango Lagoon, Oyala-Thumotang NP, Queensland, Australia (song)
Red-backed Fairywren (Malurus melanocephalus) [XC185250]
by Nicholas Allen from Fingal Head, New South Wales, Australia (call)
Nest
Dome-shaped, composed of dried grasses, lined with finer grasses, placed in a tuft of grass, sometimes over water.
Eggs (Guide)
3 or 4; white with small red-brown spots at the larger end; long-oval; about 16 x 12 mm. Incubation: probably 12 - 13 days; apparently by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 11 - 12 days.
Subspecies
Protein evidence indicates that closest allies are White-winged Fairy-wren (Malurus leucopterus) and White-shouldered Fairy-wren (Malurus alboscapulatus) and the three constitute the "bicoloured group". Subspecies intergrade in north-eastern Queensland, where hybridization zone between R Endeavour and R Burdekin.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
melanocephalus (Latham, 1801) - Coastal central-eastern Australia, east of the Great Divide and its inner spurs, from the Hunter River, north to the Burdekin Basin, Qld.
cruentatus Gould, 1840 - Kimberley Divide, WA, Victoria River district, Arnhem Land, and southern Gulf of Carpentaria, south to the northern edge of the Barkly Tableland and the Selwyn Ranges, NT, and Cape Yourk Peninsula, south to the Gregory ranges and Upper Burdekin Basin, Qld.
Similar Species
Female with female Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) which has rufous lores and eyering and female with female Variegated Fairy-wren (Malurus lamberti) which has dark rufous lores and eyering and also a blue wash to the tail.
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
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet