Grey Fantail
A species of Fantails Scientific name : Rhipidura albiscapa Genus : Fantails
Grey Fantail, A species of Fantails
Botanical name: Rhipidura albiscapa
Genus: Fantails
Content
Description People often ask General Info
Photo By Francesco Veronesi , used under CC-BY-SA-2.0 /Cropped and compressed from original
Description
This fantail is mid-to-dark grey or grey-brown above, lighter (often yellowish/orange) below, with a white throat, white markings over the eye, and (depending on the race) either white-edged or entirely white outer tail feathers. It grows to 16 cm (6.3 in) in length, of which half is the tail, which, as the name implies, is often displayed fanned out. This reveals that the outer tail feathers are light and the centre ones are dark. Some races, such as keasti, have a darker plumage. During waking hours the bird is almost never still. It flits from perch to perch, sometimes on the ground but mostly on the twigs of a tree or any other convenient object, looking out for flying insects. The birds are not shy, and will often flit within a few metres of people, especially in forested areas and suburban gardens. In doing so, it is able to catch any small flying insects that may have been disturbed by human activities such as walking or digging. The bird's call is an almost metallic cheek, either as a single sound or (more often) repeated as a chattering.
Size
17 cm
Colors
Brown
Black
Gray
White
Feeding Habits
Grey Fantail primarily feeds on flying insects, catching them mid-air with agile, aerobatic flights. This species exhibits a 'hawking' technique where it snatches prey from foliage or the ground, showing a unique adaptation for in-flight feeding.
Habitat
Grey Fantail can be found in a variety of wooded habitats spanning forested areas, suburban gardens, and human-modified landscapes. Broadly, its environment includes warm and cool rainforests, other forests and woodlands, particularly those with edges and clearings, as well as farmlands with scattered trees. It is also seen in semi-arid scrublands, mallee, acacia scrub, riverine vegetation, pine plantations, and occasionally in mangroves. Well-adapted to European settlement, grey Fantail thrives in eucalypt forests and woodlands with a complex structure, dense shrubs, and an open subcanopy, extending from coastal regions to elevations up to 1500 meters.
Dite type
Insectivorous
People often ask
General Info
Species Status
Not globally threatened.
Photo By Francesco Veronesi , used under CC-BY-SA-2.0 /Cropped and compressed from original
Scientific Classification
Phylum
Chordates Class
Birds Order
Perching birds Family
Fantails Genus
Fantails Species
Grey Fantail