Black-backed Fairy-wren
Male, profile
Ellura
Black-backed Fairy-wren
Male, anterior
 
                      
Black-backed Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens ssp melanotus)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Birds (Aves)
Order: Perching Birds (Passeriformes)
Family: Australian Fairy-wren (Maluridae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Black-backed Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens ssp melanotus)
This Photo:     Male, almost full breeding colours
Other name: Splendid Fairywren

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 Riverland and elsewhere
Males are a bright blue, mischievous rascals. Will sing loudly to distract you away from nest and family.
The hours we've spent being lead from one bush to the next and back to the first to get a shot

As with other wrens, males coming into breeding plumage are a real hotchpotch.
Females are very plain with an apricot patch around the eye, if you can get close enough to see it. Her blue tail is easy to spot, though.
We get the "Black Back" race. The black back is not easy to see.

Copyright © 2013-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 14-Jan-2013
This species is classed as NT (Near Threatened) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)