Rhapsody in blue: a male Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens) by Rini Kools

About "Rhapsody in blue: a male Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens)"

by Rini Kools

About the artwork

Fairy-wrens are usually small to medium-sized songbirds found in a wide range of habitat types such as rainforests, grasslands, savannah areas with dry scrub and deserts in Australia and New Guinea.
Their plumage, which is usually differently coloured in both sexes, features the colours purple, blue, red, black and white, usually with metallic sheen. Some birds often have camouflage colours with brown and black spots, but there are also species, such as the white-shouldered fairy-wren and the ornate fairy-wren, in which the male has a distinctive, glossy plumage. The body length ranges from 12 to 19 cm. So they are small birds, comparable in size to sparrows and finches. But the remarkably long tail makes up a relatively large part of the total length, so they do look smaller than a sparrow or finch.
Their food consists mainly of insects and larvae. They are good singers and imitators.
These birds living in groups build a covered nest of grass and cobwebs, finished on the inside with feathers and seed fluff. The clutch consists of 2 to 4 whitish, speckled eggs, which are incubated for 12 to 15 days. The young leave the nest after 10 to 12 days.
Remarkable in their behaviour is the fact that fairy-wrens are socially monogamous on the one hand, as they choose a permanent life partner, while both partners also have alternating sexual contacts.