This is a female bird. It can be distinguished from a non-breeding male by the orange beak and eye-ring.
Male and female together. This photograph was not taken in the reserves of interest to the FQPB. Photograph courtesy of B Wykes.
This is a male bird in full breeding plumage. This photograph was not taken in the reserves of interest to the FQPB. Photograph courtesy of R. Dibbens.
Splendid Fairy-wren
Scientific name: Malurus splendens
Malurus is from the Greek words malacos, meaning soft, and oura, meaning tail. Splendens is a Latin word meaning shining.
Djorrdjilya (chore’cheel’ya).
Scattered across the southern parts of Australia.
The Splendid Fairy-wren grows to 13.5 centimetres long and has a 16 centimetre wingspan. The adult male in breeding plumage is various shades of blue. When not breeding, it has a brown body but maintains some blue in the wings and tail. Males have a black beak. Females have a brown body, pale blue tail feathers and an orange beak.
The furthest distance recorded by the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme for this species of bird to travel is 65 km. The oldest bird recorded was still alive when its band was read in November 2001, 11 years 0.1 months after being banded (information as at 20 June 2012).
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Various contributors.
What Bird is That? Neville W Cayley. 1978
Aboriginal names of bird species in south-west Western Australia, with suggestions for their adoption into common usage. Ian Abbott. 2009. Conservation Science Western Australia Journal. Volume 7 No 2 https://library.dbca.wa.gov.au/Journals/080559/080559-07.015.pdf
Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/science/abbbs/abbbs-search.html
Atlas of Living Australia https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/e75f846e-944e-431e-8c43-b376ac1e2b87