Grey Fantail

Grey Fantail
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Dicruridae[?] Genus: Rhipidura Species: fuliginosa
Binomial name
Rhipidura fuliginosa

The Grey Fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa) is a small insecivorous bird. It is a very common sight in all parts of Australia bar the deepest deserts in the west, and also in New Zealand, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the New Hebridies[?], and New Caledonia.

The Grey Fantail is plain in colour: mid to dark grey or grey-brown above, lighter below, with a white throat, white markings over the eye, and (depending on the race) either white-edged or entirely white outer tail feathers.

Colour, however, is not the Grey Fantail's hallmark: it is movement, for during waking hours the bird is almost never still. It flits from perch to perch, sometimes on the ground but mostly on the twigs of a tree or any other convenient object, looking out for flying insects.