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Fairy Gerygones are very small birds found in rainforest or intertidal wetlands. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. Male Fairy Gerygones of race "flavida" have a mid-grey head and a brownish-grey back, including the tail. Their throat and chest are olive-grey, except for white moustachial stripes and a white frons. The front, from chest to undertail coverts, is lemon-yellow. Males of race "personata" have a dark-grey head and back and also a dark-grey "bib", with white moustachial stripes and a white frons, but without any visible eye-rings. This race has a much higher front-to-back colour contrast than race "flavida". Fairy Gerygones do not have either eye-rings or eyebrows. Female Fairy Gerygones of both races have a brownish-grey head, a greyish-white frons and a yellowish-white throat. The front, from chest to undertail coverts, is lemon-yellow. Female Fairy Gerygones have very thin white eye-rings. The eyes of both sexes have red irises. The bill and lores are dark-grey, while the legs and feet are grey.

Twitcher's tip

Compared to White-throated Gerygones, male Fairy Gerygones have a much darker head, while the front of females has duller colours.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Fairy Gerygone is available HERE .

Fairy Gerygones populate West Papua (Indonesia), New Guinea and north-eastern Australia.

In Australia there are two races, both of which are endemic to the continent. Race "personata" populates the coastal fringe of Cape York peninsula, from about the Embley River on the West coast, around the tip and along the East coast, to about Port Douglas, QLD. South of Port Douglas race "flavida" is found, whose range extends along the (near-)coastal fringe down South to (and including) Fraser Island, QLD.

Fairy Gerygones have a preference for rainforest and mangrove.

Race "personata"

Race "flavida"