Superb Fairy-wren
Malurus cyaneus
Family: Maluridae (Fairy-wrens, Emu-wrens, Grasswrens, 20 species in Australia)
Size: 14 cm (But they look smaller since their tails are often pointed up in the air)
Distribution: The Eastern 2/3 of NSW, Most of VIC, TAS, Several hundred km into SE QLD and small parts of SE SA
Status: Common
Habitat: Open forests, swamps, coastal areas, rainforests, gardens. Often on the ground and in family groups.
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest
The Superb Fairy-wren is a lovely bird (there is another species that is actually called the Lovely Fairy-wren, but it is only found in far North QLD). It is often seen in gardens and parks in the Blue Mountains. They are usually on the ground or near it and rarely seen alone.
In the breeding season, half of the adult male bird develops a bright blue/black colouring, like in the photos below. When not in breeding colours, he looks similar to the brown ones in the photos below (which is how the females look all year round).
One of their calls is a trill that descends in pitch and is quite recognisable once you get to know the sound of it.
Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW. High Resolution (995 x 712)
Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW.
Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW.
Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW.
Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW.
Artwork: John Gould, 'The Birds of Australia', 1848. Original Scanned Image.
Some Birdwatching Resources
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NEW: Know Your Birds, by Louise Egerton. Revised edition 3 July 2019. Paperback / softback, 176 pages. It has an orange cover. The original edition was 2005 and has a blue cover. Some of the book sellers listed here show the photo from the original/older blue cover edition, but the rest of the info (including the publication date and ISBN) are from the newer revised 2019 edition, so presumably that's the one you'll get.
This book has very high quality large photographs of the birds (as in actual photographs). Most of the photos take up a whole page for each bird photograph. "Know Your Birds" only has a selection of the most common birds, and not all the birds that are found in Australia. This makes it very good for beginners — since most of the field guides have all the birds — and it can be confusing looking at six almost identical species of birds, not knowing that five of them are rare and it's probably the common one that you're looking for. Which would be the only one listed in this book.
Purchase from Australia (The Nile)
Purchase from Australia (Fishpond)
Purchase from Amazon.com.au (Australian Site)
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