Superb Fairy-wren (male)

Description:

One shot, and one shot only! Small birds are way-too-fast for me most of the time. Anyway, this is a superb fairy-wren, a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae, and it's one of my favourite small bird species. The males are brilliantly coloured, particularly during breeding season, whereas the females plumage is dull. However, the females are no-less adorable. Wrens are small, fast and agile, and they feed on insects and other small arthropods caught mostly on the ground, but also from low bushes. Feeding takes place in small social groups which normally consists of one dominant male and several females and young birds. The reference links provide loads of information.

Habitat:

Amongst the shrubs and lower foliage near ground level, and also on the grassy areas of a semi-rural property at Ballandean SEQ. Dense native bushland nearby, and this seems to be a favourite mixed habitat for small birds such as wrens and finches. Wrens are common throughout eastern and southern Australia, and I've always found they seem to be more common in areas where there are open clearings, but also with dense foliage nearby. Shrubs and small bushes like grevilleas, banksias, black wattle, and even lantana, provide good protection from larger birds. Larger birds can make them scarce otherwise, without these types of dense vegetation. I know of people who have cleared their land of black wattle, lantana, mulga scrub, etc., and have then wondered where all the small birds have gone.