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17

Fairy Gerygone (Gerygone palpebrosa) Alternate name(s): "Black-throated Warbler", "Black-throated Flyeater", "Fairy Warbler", "Fairy Flyeater" Size: 10-11.5 cm Weight: 6-9 g

Australia: Family Group 17 Family Group 17 Table Spotted Pardalote Forty-spotted Pardalote Red-browed Pardalote Striated Pardalote Large-billed Scrubwren White-browed Scrubwren Tasmanian Scrubwren Yellow-throated Scrubwren Pilotbird Rock Warbler Chestnut-rumped Heathwren Shy Heathwren Striated Fieldwren Rufous Fieldwren Scrubtit Speckled Warbler Redthroat Western Gerygone Brown Gerygone Mangrove Gerygone Large-billed Gerygone Green-backed Gerygone Fairy Gerygone White-throated Gerygone Weebill Yellow Thornbill Striated Thornbill Buff-rumped Thornbill Yellow-rumped Thornbill Western Thornbill Slender-billed Thornbill Chestnut-rumped Thornbill Brown Thornbill Inland Thornbill Slaty-backed Thornbill Tasmanian Thornbill Southern Whiteface Chestnut-breasted Whiteface Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description 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.

Taxonomy, classification See Fairy Gerygone at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range 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.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "personata" B. Hensen reports spotting a Fairy Gerygone, race "personata", at Iron Range NP, QLD, in December 2018. Race "flavida" B. Hensen reports spotting a Fairy Gerygone, race "flavida", at Julatten, QLD, in July 2013, and again in November 2018. M. Eaton also found Fairy Gerygones, race "flavida", at Kingfisher Park, Julatten, QLD, in November 2018. J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours reports finding a Fairy Gerygone, race "flavida", at the Cattana Wetlands, Cairns, QLD, in June 2020.

Photos

Race "personata"

ADULT

MALE

Near-frontal/ventral view of a male Fairy Gerygone; note the dark-grey chin and chest, which are characteristic for males of this race; also the white frons and moustachial stripes identify this bird as a male (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Iron Range NP, QLD, December 2018]

Near-frontal/ventral view of a male Fairy Gerygone (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Iron Range NP, QLD, December 2018]

Near-frontal/ventral view of a male Fairy Gerygone (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Iron Range NP, QLD, December 2018]

Lateral/ventral view of a male Fairy Gerygone (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Iron Range NP, QLD, December 2018]

Race "flavida"

ADULT

MALE

Frontal view of a male Fairy Gerygone; note the olive-grey chest, which is characteristic for males of this race; also the white frons and moustachial stripes identify this bird as a male (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kingfisher Park, Julatten, QLD, November 2018]

Lateral view of a male Fairy Gerygone (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Julatten, QLD, July 2013]

FEMALE

Ventral view of a female Fairy Gerygone; note the inconspicuous white submoustachial stripe, without grey around it
(photo courtesy of J. Boettcher, FNQ Nature Tours)
[Cattana Wetlands, Cairns, QLD, June 2020]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Lateral view of a juvenile Fairy Gerygone; note the absence of a white streak by the side of the throat
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kingfisher Park, Julatten, QLD, November 2018]

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