As in John Paul Young’s classic song, the bright cobalt blue of this male Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus spendens) indicates that ‘love is in every sight and sound’ at this stage of summer. Many birds are in full breeding plumage now, but none of them is so striking as the one that has been voted Australia’s Favourite Bird in Birdlife Australia. The males have their groove on and are frantically drawing the attention of the dull-brown coloured females, and although pairs bond for life and are seemingly monogamous their sexual appetite is in overdrive – those birds don’t shy back from adventures with multiple partners while they sometimes even raise the young from those affairs. Soap opera in the wild!
Published on January 12, 2015
Splendid Fairy-wren
What an eye-catching little bird Maurice, and a fantastic photo of it too; I just love the contrast between the drap twigs and the brighly coloured fairy-wren!
Thank you Dries; isn’t it beautiful? Very glad with the shot as these rascals are very jumpy!
Terrific photo, those little devils move so quickly about it’s hard to get any photo let alone a lovely crisp one of a male calling.
Thanks for the kindness – they’re fast buggers indeed 🙂
Wow! Amazing colors!
That’s what all the female fairy-wrens think too 😀