Inland Purple-backed Fairy-wren
Male, starting to leave eclipse
Ellura
Inland Purple-backed Fairy-wren
Male, profile
 
                      
Inland Purple-backed Fairy-wren (Malurus (Leggeornis) assimilis ssp assimilis)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Birds (Aves)
Order: Perching Birds (Passeriformes)
Family: Australian Fairy-wren (Maluridae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Inland Purple-backed Fairy-wren (Malurus (Leggeornis) assimilis ssp assimilis)
This Photo:     Male, almost full breeding colours
Synonym: Malurus lamberti
Other name: Variegated Fairy-wren

Thank you Antoni Camozzato for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Flinders Ranges and elsewhere
The male is very similar to the Superb but with a chestnut "scarf". Unlike the splendid, the patch around the female's eye is blood-red.
So far we haven't seen the Superb & Variegated in the same area.
Last year, 2018, these were split out from the Variegated Fairy-wrens (Malurus lamberti)

Copyright © 2012-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 13-Aug-2012
This species is classed as LC (Least Concern) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)