Fairywrens

[John53]

About to rain and I'm bored so I thought I'd bore everyone with more bird nerd stuff. Australian Fairywrens are not wrens at all, they were misclassified by the early ornithologists. They're more closely related to corvids than northern hemisphere wrens. They live in family groups with a complex social system that researchers struggle to understand. They exhibit a high degree of sexual dimorphism when the males are in breeding plumage, non breeding plumage they look similar to females. Only 2 species of them where I live.

Superb Fairywren. First pic is a male in breeding plumage, 2nd is a male in non-breeding, 3rd is a female.

 

[John53]

Male and female Variegated Fairywren.

 

[John53]

Southern Emu-wren. I'm not sure if they're Fairywrens, some sources say yes, some say no but it's likely they're closely related. They're one of Australia's smallest birds. Fairly common where I live but extremely hard to photograph because they rarely come out of thick cover. Their tail is about twice the length of their body.

 

[exchemist]

Male and female Variegated Fairywren.

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I suppose they are called wrens because they have their tails sticking up, like the real wren - some of which I have in my back garden in London. Nothing like as pretty to look at. But one of the noisiest birds in the garden, in spite of being by far the smallest of them all.

Rather like small women...........

 

[John53]

I suppose they are called wrens because they have their tails sticking up, like the real wren - some of which I have in my back garden in London. Nothing like as pretty to look at. But one of the noisiest birds in the garden, in spite of being by far the smallest of them all.

Rather like small women...........

The early European ornithologists were all about judging books by covers. So were the more modern ones too, until DNA proved everyone wrong.