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Mangrove Fantail Rhipidura phasiana Scientific name definitions

Walter Boles
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2006

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

13·8–15·5 cm; 5–7·8 g. Has short white supercilium and white streak behind orbit; upperparts light grey, slightly darker on lores and ear-coverts; upperwing slightly darker and browner, median and greater wing-coverts with white tips (double wingbar), inner secondaries and tertials narrowly edged white; tail medium to dark grey-brown, all rectrices except central pair with white shafts, four outer pairs with white tips and edges (outermost with whole outer web white, next three pairs with distal half of inner web white); chin and throat white, upper breast with narrow ill-defined mid grey band, remaining underparts pale buff, breast side washed with light grey; iris dark brown; bill black, sometimes pale base of lower mandible; legs dark. Sexes alike. Juvenile has upperparts washed with pale buff, primary coverts with pale tips, other wing markings buffy, underparts paler; immature like adult, but primary coverts with pale tips.

Systematics History

Previously considered a race of R. fuliginosa; but recent phylogeographical studies (1, 2) show that it diverged recently and is sister to a clade comprising R. fuliginosa and R. albiscapa. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Aru Is, coastal SE New Guinea (Lea Lea to Lese Oalai), and coastal NW & N Australia from Shark Bay (Western Australia) E patchily to Edward R (N Queensland).

Habitat

Mostly confined to coastal mangroves including open or closed forest, woodland, shrubland or thickets of several species; in Australia also occasionally in adjacent coastal vegetation, such as paperbark (Melaleuca) forest and thickets and acacia (Acacia) shrubland; will move across grassy flats between mangroves and thickets. Also coastal forest and casuarinas (Casuarina) in Aru Is.

Movement

Resident throughout Australian range and, presumably, New Guinean range. Recoveries of nine ringed individuals in Australia all less than 10 km from site of ringing.

Diet and Foraging

Insects; beetles (Coleoptera), flies (Diptera), bugs (Hemiptera) and wasps (Hymenoptera) found in more than half of stomachs. Spiders also important. Forages at all levels from ground to canopy and above, and around mangrove vegetation; much of time spent less than 2 m from ground, most below 1 m; up to 20 m from ground in Aru Is. Uses variety of substrates as perches. Feeds mainly by flycatching; less often by flushing prey from substrate with constant movement, and catching it aerially or after landing; occasionally gleans or hover-gleans. In studies, c. 87% of foraging was aerial, remainder among foliage. Joins mixed foraging flocks of small passerines, accompanying species such as Mangrove Gerygone (Gerygone laevigaster). Follows larger animals, e.g. kangaroos and humans, catching insects disturbed by their passage; approaches to within 20 cm or even lands on them.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song a series of short twittering whistles, “chit-chit chitty-chit”, with upward or downward trend in frequency; contact call a short “check chek” or “dek dek” as contact call. Song in New Guinea a rapidly descending twitter.

Breeding

Data only from Australia. Season Sept–Feb, possibly Mar. Nest built by both sexes, an open cup of fine bark strips, usually of mangrove, bound externally with spider web, pendent “tail” of thin bark strips and spider web, lined with fine rootlets, strips of bark or vine tendrils; external diameter 45–54 mm, depth 36–50 mm, internal diameter 36–42 mm, depth 20–30 mm, tail 30–55 mm (rarely, up to 160 mm); placed on thin horizontal mangrove branch, generally by fork, usually 1–3 m above high-water mark. Clutch 1–3 eggs, usually 2, creamy to almost white, with light brown spots and blotches forming irregular wreath around large end, mean 15·8 × 12·3 mm; no information on incubation and fledging periods; fledglings attended by both sexes.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Common in Australia; in New Guinea locally common, but otherwise scarce.
Distribution of the Mangrove Fantail - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
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  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Mangrove Fantail

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Boles, W. (2020). Mangrove Fantail (Rhipidura phasiana), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.manfan1.01
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