Overview

Palau Fantail: Small, red-brown fantail with black mark on breast, gray sides of breast, white throat, and white on middle of breast. Black-gray in front of and below eye, on wings, and on tail. Long, broad tail with red-brown tip. Medium-length black-gray legs and feet. Sexes similar, juvenile like adult but more gray on head.

Voice Text

"keee-up", "kee-keer-kew"

• Between 1930 and 1940, these birds were considered rare, but they have become much one of the most common forest birds throughout Palau.
• The Palau Fantail can only be found on the Island of Palau.
• The Palauan name of this bird is "Melimdelebdeb" or "Chesisirech."
• A group of fantails is collectively known as a "spread" of fantails.

Fantails (Rhipiduridae)

ORDER

Most small birds such as thrushes, starlings, wrens, and fantails are members of the one hundred and eighteen families in the largest taxonomic order of

birds; the PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez).

FAMILY TAXONOMY

The fantails are placed in the rhipiduridae (pronounced rip-i-DER-i-dee), a group of forty-eight species in one genus found in southern Asia, Australasia, and many islands in the Pacific Ocean.

SOUTH PACIFIC-PALAU

Thirteen species of fantails in one genus are found in the South Pacific. One species, the Palau Fantail, also occurs in Palau.

KNOWN FOR

Members of this family are known for their habit of opening and closing their prominent, long tails.

PHYSICAL

Members of the rhipiduridae are small birds with short to medium, flat beaks with a fairly broad base, short to medium wings, long tails with a slightly rounded tip, and short to medium legs.

COLORATION

Most fantail species have gray, black, and red-brown plumage with patches of white, although a few also have yellow and blue plumage.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Members of the rhipiduridae family live in a variety of forested and non-forest habitats including rainforest, mangroves, parks, and gardens in urban areas.

MIGRATION

All fantail species are sedentary, non-migratory birds except for populations of Rufous Fantails from southern Australia that move to northern Australia during the winter months.

HABITS

Fantails are usually seen in pairs and don’t form large flocks with other fantails. However, they frequently join foraging flocks that include several bird species. Fantails use their broad bills to glean insects from foliage and catch prey after a short sally into the air.

CONSERVATION

Most fantail species are common and have stable populations. However, the Malaita Fantail of the Solomon Islands is rated as Vulnerable and some other range restricted species have become Near Threatened because of habitat loss.

INTERESTING FACTS

Fantails get their name from constantly opening and closing their long tails as they forage. The Australian fantail species known as the “Willie Wagtail” is also known as the “shepherd’s companion” because it commonly perches on the backs of cattle to catch insects flushed out of the grass. The beaks of fantails have long bristles at the base to help them catch insects. Only one species of fantail has sexually dimorphic plumage, the Black Fantail of New Guinea.

Artist

Michael Oberhofer