White-winged Fairy-wren

The White-winged Fairywren mainly eats insects, supplementing this with small fruits and leaf buds. It occurs in heathland and arid scrubland, where low shrubs provide cover. Like other fairywrens, it is a cooperative breeding species, and small groups of birds maintain and defend territories year-round. Groups consist of a socially monogamous pair with several helper birds who assist in raising the young. These helpers are progeny that have attained sexual maturity but remain with the family group for one or more years after fledging. Although not yet confirmed genetically, the White-winged Fairywren may be promiscuous and assist in raising the young from other pairings. As part of a courtship display, the male wren plucks petals from flowers and displays them to female birds.

The White-winged Fairy-wren is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

White-winged Fairy-wren is a tiny but is very handsome bird. The male often parches on the top of bluebush or saltbush. With the shining blue plumage, the very fast song like a clockwork toy is impressive enough for you. Similar to the fairy-wren, but more adapted species are grasswrens. In the outback Australia, there are eight (sometimes said nine or ten) grasswrens. They are very fast runner like a small mouse. More

* The White-winged Fairy-wren (Malurus leucopterus) is a species of passerine bird in the Maluridae family. More

White-winged Fairy-wrens are similar in size. The Variegated Fairy-wren is slightly larger in size and has a longer tail. Distribution Several other species of fairy-wren are found in Australia. The males of each species are quite distinct, but the females and young birds are often difficult to separate. Of the species that overlap in range with the Superb Fairy-wren, the female White-winged Fairy-wren Malurus leucopterus and Red-backed Fairy-wren M. More

Post White-winged Fairy-wren (female)I still haven't got a decent image of the stunning males, they'd be the most uncooperative Fairy-wren species I've encountered so far. Happy to get a few nice shots of the girls though. Canon 40D & 100-400mm L 1/2000s f/8 ISO 400 Monopod *Cloned a couple of little twigs... again. More

Post Re: White-winged Fairy-wren Male ( Malurus coronatus)Hi Colin - certainly the spot where they are is tussocky grassland and most of the time the birds are in that or on top of tussocks. There are odd trees scattered on the roadside though and the fact that this one was in the low tree is probably why I got close - any attempt to approach them in the grassland is really hard but I was able to creep up to this guy who seemed reasonably unpeturbed by my presence. More

black, island race of the White-winged Fairy-wren suggests that increasing melanin density may mask the blue-producing microstructure of the feathers in the black island race. This difference appears to have a simple genetic basis. In the two endemic New Guinea Malurus lineages, the striking all-blue Emperor Fairy-wren lacks contrasting ear-tufts, whereas the Broad-billed Fairy-wren has the crown blue and black, with the black concentrated in the centre, the ear-tufts blue and elongate, and the overall body colour a paler blue. More

outside) the habitat of White-winged Fairy-wrens, which are found predominantly in the interior of the continent (west of the great dividing range). However, subspecies "leuconotus" is found in the area. We first spotted a family of them several times over the years (2004-2007) at the Australia Telescope observatory, 25 km west of Narrabri. More

White-winged fairy-wren distribution map This bird is a subspecies of the white-winged fairy-wren of mainland Australia. Unlike males of the mainland species, which are cobalt blue and white, the Dirk Hartog male is jet black, with white wings. Females and non-breeding males are brownish-grey above and white on the underside, with a greyish-blue tail. More