"SOUTH ISLAND FANTAIL"

"SOUTH ISLAND FANTAIL"

Fantails are often too curious for their own good. Many meeting their demise with early settlers in New Zealand. A quick, flighty, high pitched cheeping bird that will always welcome visitors to his forest. Often stopping on branches just a foot or two out of reach.

Sexes are alike, though males are slightly larger than females. The common call is a sharp and repeated chirp, the song a series of high-pitched twitterings. Feeding is usually carried out during the characteristic and erratic batlike flight, and food consists entirely of small insects. Fantails will readily enter houses in search of prey.

The breeding season extends mainly from September to January, and a cone-shaped nest of moss, hair, and grass bound with cobwebs is frequently sited in vegetation near or actually overhanging water, presumably because of the abundance of insects in such a situation. Three to four creamy eggs with light-brown markings at their larger ends comprise the usual clutch. Incubation is shared and takes about 14 days. Two or three broods may be raised in one season.

The scientific name for the species is Rhipidura fuliginosa.