g'day all,
Re Paul Osborn's note of a possible sighting of a "hybrid
between a Variegated Fairy Wren and a Red-backed Fairy Wren."
I regularly see clans of Variegated F-w and Red-backed F-w feeding together
... and on one occasion also with White-winged F-w
Several times I've observed a clan of Red-backed F-w that included a
single non-plumaged Variegated F-w from presumably a group seen feeding about
50m away.
Hybridisation is probably not unlikely.
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Here some references I dug out re F-w co-existence and
hybridisation.
Julian Ford
Hybridisation of Splendid and Turquoise Wrens.
Emu 75, Pt 3,1975,July, p153-154.
Malcolm Wilson
Apparent hybridisation between two species of Fairy-wren
(They were Red-backed and Superb.. B.F.)
Sunbird V13,No.2,1983,June, p38-39
(Sunbird is the Journal of Birds Queensland/Qld Ornithological
Society)
Ford, J.R.; & Johnstone, R.E.
Hybridisation between Malurus lamberti rogersi and Malurus lamberti
assimilis in north-western Australia.
EMU 91: 251-254.
Sonia Tidemann
Emu 90, Pt 1, 1990, p7-14
Factors Affecting Territory
Establishment, Size and use by Three Co-existing Species of F-w
(Superb,
Variegated and White-winged .. B.F.)
