Jenny Skewes wrote:
>
> Saw about 80 species. There would have been more if the fairy-wrens
> hadn't all been grey. Do dominant males lose their colour at this time
> of year? The WWFW hadn't, but no other f-wrens we saw were coloured.
>
Hi Jenny
Yes, alot of adult male fairy wrens do loose their colour towards the end of
summer and in Autumn.
When I was in WA, the majority of the 5 species seen - Splendid,
White-winged, Blue-breasted, Red-winged and Variegated were in
eclipse/non-breeding plumage however there were the odd ones still in full
breeding plumage. In particular out of the hundreds of Splendid Wrens seen,
I only saw 2 males in full breeding plumage and that was only at Cue in
mulga habitat. The Splendid Wren is quite a common bird seen in the
south-west of WA and every adult male I saw outside Mulga habitat (around
Perth, south coast etc) appeared to be all in eclipse/non-breeding plumage.
It took me alot of searching to find fully plumaged examples of the other
wrens. However I think every party of White-winged Wrens I had seen, always
had a fully plumaged adult male.
Around Sydney, I still see quite a few adult Superb Blue Wrens in full
breeding plumage and less so with Variegated Wrens. Likewise, on the
mid-north coast of NSW, very few adult male Red-backed Wrens appear in
breeding plaumage towards the end of summer.
Edwin
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