Other Names (World)
Superb Fairy-wren, Superb Fairywren, Blue Wren, Fairy Wren, Gould's Blue Wren, Mormon Wren, Queensland Blue Wren, Silvery Blue Wren, Superb Blue Wren, Jenny Wren, Superb Warbler, Blue Wren-warbler, Blue Bonnet, Bluecap, Cock-tail
Habitat
Slerophyll forests and woodlands, with well-developed understorey of heath or other sclerophyllous shrubs, and also with poorly developed understorey of grasses and sedges and scattered shrubs.
Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus) [XC721724]
by Phil Gregory from Bicentennial Park, Australia Ave (near Sydney Olympic Park), City of Parramatta Council, New South Wales, Australia (song)
Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus) [XC669148]
by Marc Anderson from Parkville, Victoria, Australia (uncertain)
Nest
Dome-shaped, with a side-entrance, composed of grasses, bark-fiber and cobweb, lined with feathers, wool or other soft materials, placed near the ground in shrubs or grass.
Eggs (Guide)
3 or 4; white, spotted with red-brown at the larger end; long-oval; about 17 x 12 mm. Incubation: 13 - 15 days; by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 12 - 13 days.
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens). These two, together with Purple-crowned Fairy-wren (Malurus coronatus), constitute the "Australian blue group".
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
cyaneus (Latham, 1783) - Tasmania, excluding the islands of Bass Strait.
cyanochlamys Sharpe, 1881 - South-eastern Australia from south-eastern Qld, south and south-west to central Murray River, of New South Wales and Victoria, and west to Bassian Plain, Vic.
leggei Mathews, 1912 - Western Murray River of Vic. and SA, south-western Victoria and south-eastern SA to the Mt Lofty Ranges, Adelaide Plains and southern Eyre Peninsula.
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