These questions can only be answered by people handling live birds or
museum skins. I was banding birds near South Grafton yesterday and Friday
and we caught and banded a few Red-backed Fairy-wrens and Superb
Fairy-wrens. Two of the Red-backed FWs were adult males in eclipse but
there was also a bird that appeared to be an adult female with a brown tail and
new brown feathers emerging in tail. The unusual aspect was that when the
pale breast and belly feathers were parted the under feathers were black.
Does this indicate a young male or do birds of both sexes have hidden black
under feathers? I have noticed this before on birds that were thought to
be female.
The second query is to the age of a male Superb Fairy-wren. It was a
classic adult male in eclipse plumage except that it has traces of the red
loreal feathers. Would this make it a first year bird or a second year
bird?
I have checked HANZAB on these two questions but can’t find the
answers.
Regards
Greg
Dr Greg Clancy
