B176 Red-backed Fairywren
Find them among reeds and long grasses.
Interesting Facts
“The Red-backed-Fairy-wren is among the least faithful birds in the world, with extra-pair mating commonplace — the result is that the eggs in any given nest are often fathered by various different birds.” – Birdlife Australia
Description:
The Red-backed Fairywren is the smallest, but most unique of all Australian fairywrens. Most male fairywrens are blue, but not this little fella. It is hard to miss the striking red patch on the Male’s back and rump, which stands out from their glossy black body.
However, this is only his breeding plumage. At other times they are brown above and off white below. Females and juvenile birds also have brown upperparts above and whitish underparts.
My Sightings:
I first spotted the Red-backed Fairywren in the Ipswich area in August 2020 in amongst some long reeds and grass. I was quite excited as I had never seen a red fairywren before. I was even more delighted to get some decent photos of it. I returned many times to try to get more shots. I managed some shots of the female too. It is smaller than the Superb Fairywren female which has rusty-orange around the eyes, whereas the female red-backed doesn’t.
Now 12 months later, I have spotted the male and female again at Kalbar, Scenic Rim, Qld.
More from my Google Photos Album
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