Tag Archives: Fairy-wrens

Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus)

Posted on by
Reply

The Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus), also known as the superb blue-wren or colloquially as the blue wren, is a passerine bird of the family Maluridae, common and familiar across southeastern Australia.  They were recently voted as Australia’s favourite bird.  Two subspecies groups are recognized: the larger and darker Tasmanian form cyaneus and the smaller and paler mainland form cyanochlamys.

.

IMG_7594a IMG_7644a IMG_7642aSuperb Fairy-wrens have a large range in eastern Australia and Tasmania.  I’ve personally seen them in the Captain Cook Caravan Park in Bruny Island, Strahan, around Hobart and near Girraween National Park in Queensland.

.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SUPERB FAIRY-WRENS

Wikipedia

Birdlife

Birds in Backyards

Beauty of Birds

Tasmania Parks & Wildlife

VIDEO

Beautiful close up footage from Chris Rishworth on YouTube.

Easy Birding At Yanchep National Park

Posted on by
1

In my last post, I talked about Yanchep as a destination.  The nice thing about Yanchep is you can be as active or as lazy as you want and you will STILL see lots of birds!  I’m in the lazy camp.  I did do one hike around the small lake opposite Yanchep Inn but mostly I just kicked back at a picnic table or my room’s porch.  Eremaea has a good bird list to give you an idea what to expect.  Here’s some of the birds I saw.

Lots of Waterbirds

IMG_6513 IMG_6515 IMG_6516 IMG_6622

Cheeky Galahs

IMG_6526aCarnaby’s Cockatoos

IMG_6534

IMG_6480

Black SwansIMG_6459

Australian Ringnecks

IMG_6445a IMG_6609Laughing Kookaburras (they will try to steal your food!)

IMG_6540 IMG_6542 IMG_6446Purple Swamphens

IMG_6449 IMG_6457 IMG_6510

Scarlet Robins

 

IMG_6639 IMG_6633 IMG_6625a

Brown Honeyeater

IMG_6628a IMG_6636a

Splendid Fairy-wrens (vivid males and duller females)

IMG_6643a IMG_6592 IMG_6598 IMG_6603a IMG_6591a IMG_6589a IMG_6584a IMG_6583a IMG_6569a IMG_6568a IMG_6564a IMG_6557 IMG_6553a IMG_6552

Australian Wood Ducks (I think)

IMG_6440

Australian MagpieIMG_6438 IMG_6461

Red Wattlebird IMG_6469

Australian Wood Ducks (I think)

IMG_6478

Red Wattlebird IMG_6496

Australian Wood DuckIMG_6527

Red Wattlebird

IMG_6541 IMG_6607a

Welcome SwallowsIMG_6610

Splendid Fairywren (Malurus splendens)

Posted on by
Reply

The Splendid Fairywren is one of 12 species of the genus Malurus, commonly known as fairywrens, found in Australia and lowland New Guinea.  Within the genus it is most closely related to the Superb Fairywren. These two “Blue wrens” are closely related to the Purple-crowned Fairywren of north-western Australia.

I was very lucky to see these gorgeous little birds in several locations such as Stirling Range Retreat, Nallan Station, Yanchep National Park & Bowra Station.  Their bright blue colouring and charming way of hopping around had me falling in love with them!

IMG_5081 IMG_5084 IMG_5086Splendid Fairy-wrens have a large range so it would be easy to plan a birding adventure which visits one of their habitats.

.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SPLENDID FAIRY-WRENS

Wikipedia

Birdlife

Birds in Backyards

VIDEO

This footage shows the contrast between the males and females (the brown birds with blue tails) and you can hear the twitter sound they make!

 

 

 

Superb Fairy-wren Elected Australia’s Favourite Bird

Posted on by
3

IMG_7843aThis beautiful, bright and energetic little bird was elected Australia’s favourite bird in a recent poll run by Birdlife Australia.  I got to see them in the wild for the first time during a recent trip to Tasmania, then again in Outback Queensland.

I am also proud to say I have seen most of the birds that were nominated in the wild at some point or another since I have been living in Australia.  These are the birds I have seen, hopefully I will complete the list soon!  After all, they were ALL special enough to have been nominated!  How many have YOU seen?

Australian Brush-turkey

Australian Magpie

Australian Pelican

Australian Raven

Australian Ringneck (28 Parrot)

Black Kite

Black Swan

Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo

Crested Pigeon

Crimson Rosella

Eastern Rosella

Galah

Grey Butcherbird

Grey Fantail

Hooded Plover

Laughing Kookaburra

Magpie-lark

Masked Lapwing

Nankeen Kestrel

New Holland Honeyeater

Noisy Miner

Pacific Black Duck

Pied Currawong

Purple Swamphen

Rainbow Lorikeet

Red-necked Stint

Red-rumped Parrot

Scarlet Robin

Silver Gull

Silvereye

Singing Honeyeater

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Superb Fairy-wren

Swift Parrot

Tawny Frogmouth

Welcome Swallow

White-plumed Honeyeater

Willie Wagtail

Yellow Wattlebird

Purple-Crowned Fairy-Wren (Malurus Coronatus)

Posted on by
2

You may see the lovely little Purple-crowned Fairy-wren (Malurus coronatus) if you are birding in the Northern Territory.

Purple-crowned Fairy Wren

 

Purple-crowned Fairy Wren Habitat

 

Although they are very pretty little birds when viewed from the side, they become really spectacular when viewed from above in pairs.  Predators will think the eyes belong to some large creature instead of a fragile little bird that might otherwise make a tasty snack.

Purple-crowned Fairy Wren

 

Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens are divided into two races: – an eastern race (M. c. macgillivaryi) that occurs in the sub-coastal region from the Roper River in the Northern Territory to the Flinders River in Queensland; and – a western race (M. c. coronatus) that occurs throughout the Kimberley region of Western Autralia and the Northern Territory. The two races of Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens never mix and more than 400 km separates them geographically. Sadly, Purple-crowned Fairy-wren populations are disappearing. It is estimated that only about 12,000 breeding birds remain of the western race in the Kimberley.

For more information about this bird, please visit this website.