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BIRD FACTS |
Description
Small wren with a long erect tail. Breeding males are black with a scarlet back. Females and non-breeding males are brown on upperparts and tail, whitish brown below. Juveniles similar to females.
Occurs in pairs or small groups, usually foraging in the grass or on the ground for insects. Resident. During the breeding season a territory is defended; at other times the group may wander over a wide area. Roosts by night in dense low vegetation. Across its range it breeds throughout the year, but in northern Australia probably only during the wet season. Mates for life. Females build a side-entranced dome nest of plant fibre and spider web, usually well hidden in grass or low plants. Eggs are white, with spots and blotches of reddish brown. Clutch size 2-5. Only the female incubates, which lasts around 2 weeks. After about 11-12 days the young leave the nest, remaining hidden for about a week and later foraging with the group and continuing to be fed for about another month.
Author credit: Lindley McKay
Habitat
In the Top End, it inhabits woodland and grassland, preferring open areas with tall, unburnt grass. Elsewhere, it also occurs in other habitats with dense grass or shrub layers, including Spinifex grassland.
Food
Carnivore
Range
Northern and eastern Australia.
Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Species Description is from Museums Field Guide, Atlas of Living Australia at website at https://lists.ala.org.au Licensed under Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
| Class: | Aves | | Order: | Passeriformes | | Family: | Maluridae | | Genus: | Malurus | | Species: | melanocephalus | | Common Name: | Red-backed Fairy-wren |
Relatives in same Genus
Lovely Fairy-wren (M. amabilis)
Superb Fairy-wren (M. cyaneus)
Red-winged Fairy-wren (M. elegans)
Variegated Fairy-wren (M. lamberti)
White-winged Fairy-wren (M. leucopterus)
Splendid Fairy-wren (M. splendens)
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