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The New Zealand fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa'') is a small
insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...
bird, the only species of
fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as "f ...
in
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. It has four subspecies: ''R. f. fuliginosa'' in the
South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
, ''R. f. placabilis'' in the
North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
, ''R. f. penita'' in the
Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approxima ...
, and the now-extinct ''R. f. cervina'' formerly on
Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...
. It is also known by its
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
names, , or , and the Chatham Island subspecies by the
Moriori The Moriori are the first settlers of the Chatham Islands ( in Moriori language, Moriori; in Māori language, Māori). Moriori are Polynesians who came from the New Zealand mainland around 1500 AD, which was close to the time of the ...
name ;
THE MORIORI PEOPLE OF THE CHATHAM ISLANDS: THEIR TRADITIONS AND HISTORY by Alexander Shand.
the common pied morph is also known as pied fantail (not to be confused with the Malaysian pied fantail, Malaysian or
Philippine The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
pied fantails), and the uncommon dark morph is also known as black fantail (not to be confused with the
black fantail The black fantail (''Rhipidura atra'') is a species of bird in the family Rhipiduridae. It is found in the highlands of New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slo ...
of
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
). The species has been considered by many to be conspecific (the same) as the
grey fantail The grey fantail (''Rhipidura albiscapa'') is a small insectivorous bird. There is no sexual dimorphism. It is a common fantail found in Australia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. The species is considered by many to be conspecific ...
(''Rhipidura albiscapa'') of Australia and New Caledonia;Bird Life International, Grey Fantail
Grey Fantail entry on the Birdlife International Database including explanation as to why grey and New Zealand fantails are not considered to be separate species.
however, due to significant differences in its calls, many authorities now treat it as a separate species.


Taxonomy

The New Zealand fantail was formally described and illustrated in 1787 by the Swedish naturalist
Anders Sparrman Anders Sparrman (27 February 1748 – 9 August 1820) was a Swedish naturalist, abolitionist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Biography left, Miniature of Sparrman at the time of his travels with James Cook. By unknown artist. Born in Tensta ...
. He placed it with the flycatchers in the genus ''
Muscicapa ''Muscicapa'' is a genus of passerine birds belonging to the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, and therein to the typical flycatchers of subfamily Muscicapinae. They are widespread across Europe, Africa and Asia with most species occurri ...
'' and coined the
binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
''Muscicapa fuliginosa''. The specific epithet is from
Late Latin Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, and continuing into the 7th century in ...
''fuliginosus'' meaning "sooty". The New Zealand fantail is now one of 51 fantails placed in the genus ''
Rhipidura Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family (biology), family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders ...
'' that was introduced in 1827 by the naturalists Nicholas Vigors and
Thomas Horsfield Thomas Horsfield (May 12, 1773 – July 24, 1859) was an American physician and natural history, naturalist who worked extensively in Indonesia, describing numerous species of plants and animals from the region. He was later a curator of the Eas ...
. The New Zealand fantail has sometimes been treated as
conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...
with the
grey fantail The grey fantail (''Rhipidura albiscapa'') is a small insectivorous bird. There is no sexual dimorphism. It is a common fantail found in Australia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. The species is considered by many to be conspecific ...
(''Rhipidura albiscapa'') ( Gould, 1840) from Australia, the
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...
and
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
. Four
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
are recognised: * ''R. f. fuliginosa''
Sparrman Anders Sparrman (27 February 1748 – 9 August 1820) was a Swedish naturalist, abolitionist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Biography left, Miniature of Sparrman at the time of his travels with James Cook. By unknown artist. Born in Tensta, ...
, 1787 –
South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
and Stewart Islands (New Zealand) * ''R. f. placabilis''
Bangs Bang, bang!, or bangs may refer to: Products * M1922 Bang rifle, a US semi-automatic rifle designed by Søren Hansen Bang * Bang, a List of model car brands, model car brand * Bang (beverage), an energy drink Geography * Bang, Central African ...
, 1921 –
North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
(New Zealand) * ''R. f. penita'' Bangs, 1911 –
Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approxima ...
(east of
South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
, New Zealand) *† ''R. f. cervina'' Ramsay, EP, 1879 –
Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...
(east of Australia) (extinct)


Description

This fantail is mid to dark grey or grey-brown above, yellowish/orange below, with a dark band across the chest below a white throat, white markings over the eye, and (depending on the race) either white-edged or entirely white outer tail feathers. It grows to in length, of which half is the tail, which, as the name implies, is often displayed fanned out. This reveals that the outer tail feathers are light and the centre ones are dark. Some subspecies are found in a darker
plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...
, notably the "black fantail" morph seen in 4% of South Island birds and less than 1% of North Island birds (it is completely absent from the Chatham Islands).Boles, W.E. (2006). Family Rhipiduridae (fantails). Pp 200–244 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Christie, D.A. eds (2006) ''
Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...
''. Vol. 11. Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
The black morph lacks the white areas and so is dark all over apart from a white spot behind the eye. Fantails are also famous worldwide for their fan-shaped tail. Juveniles are similar to the adults but have a browner body and indistinct body markings.


Behaviour

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. The birds are not shy, and will often flit within a few metres of people, especially in forested areas and suburban gardens. In doing so, it is able to catch any small flying insects that may have been disturbed by human activities such as walking or digging. Under cold temperatures a flock of fantails will huddle to stay warm. Due to the constant movement of fantails, people who fidget a lot are sometimes called a fantail's tail. The bird's call is an almost metallic ''cheek'', either as a single sound or (more often) repeated as a chattering.


Breeding

The New Zealand fantail is a seasonal breeder, nesting from August to March in the North Island, September to January in the South Island and October to January on the Chatham Islands. They usually raise two or more broods per season. The birds form compact, cup-shaped nests, usually in the forks of trees, made from moss, bark and fibre, and often completed with spider's web. Both sexes build the nest. The
clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...
size is usually three to four cream eggs which are spotted grey and brown. The incubation period is around two weeks, and incubation and feeding duties are shared by both adults. Nest building and incubation of the second brood may occur while the fledged young of the first brood are still being fed. Young males may begin breeding two months after fledging. The nests of the New Zealand fantail are occasionallyMoon, G. & Lockley, R. (1982) ''New Zealand’s Birds, a photographic guide''. Heinemann Publishers. Auckland, New Zealand parasitised by the two species of cuckoo in New Zealand. Approximately 45% of 81 nesting attempts that were monitored in urban Wellington successfully fledged chicks: one in four nests being abandoned or deserted and just over one in four suffering predation. Nests built on thin branches were more likely to escape predation from ship rats than those built on thick branches.


In mythology

In
Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the ...
, the pīwakawaka is a messenger, bringing death or news of death from the
gods A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...
to the people. The bulbous eyes and erratic flying behaviour of the bird is attributed to it being squeezed by
Māui Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a deity ( demigod) and more of a folk hero. His origins vary from culture to culture, but many of his main expl ...
for not revealing the whereabouts of his ancestress
Mahuika Mahuika is a Māori fire deity and consort of the god Auahitūroa. Myths In some versions, she is the younger sister of Hine-nui-te-pō, goddess of death. It was from her that Māui (in some versions he is her grandson) obtained the secre ...
, the fire deity. Tiwakawaka is also the name of one of the first Māori settlers to New Zealand.


Gallery

File:New Zealand Fantail or Piwakawaka 01.jpg, File:Piwakawaka.jpg, File:New Zealand Fantail or Piwakawaka 05.jpg, Rhipidura fuliginosa2.jpg, File:New Zealand Fantail or Piwakawaka 02.jpg, File:Rhipidura fuliginosa, Pines Beach, New Zealand 01.jpg, File:New Zealand fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa) (39596247290).jpg, Black fantail File:Pied Fantail 01.ogv, Tail fanned out, searching for insect File:Rhipidura fuliginosa vocalizations.ogv, Video includes vocalizations


References

*Falla, R.A., Sibson, R.B., & Tributt, E.G., (1970). ''A field guide to the birds of New Zealand.'' London: Collins.


External links


Grey Fantail videos, photos & sounds
on the Internet Bird Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:fantail, New Zealand
New Zealand fantail The New Zealand fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa'') is a small insectivorous bird, the only species of fantail in New Zealand. It has four subspecies: ''R. f. fuliginosa'' in the South Island, ''R. f. placabilis'' in the North Island, ''R. f. p ...
New Zealand fantail The New Zealand fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa'') is a small insectivorous bird, the only species of fantail in New Zealand. It has four subspecies: ''R. f. fuliginosa'' in the South Island, ''R. f. placabilis'' in the North Island, ''R. f. p ...
New Zealand fantail The New Zealand fantail (''Rhipidura fuliginosa'') is a small insectivorous bird, the only species of fantail in New Zealand. It has four subspecies: ''R. f. fuliginosa'' in the South Island, ''R. f. placabilis'' in the North Island, ''R. f. p ...
Articles containing video clips Birds with names in Moriori