The white-browed fantail (''Rhipidura aureola'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

belonging to the family

Rhipiduridae The family Rhipiduridae are small insectivorous birds of Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent that includes the fantails and silktails. Taxonomy and systematics There are four genera classified within the family: * Subfamily R ...

Description

The adult white-browed fantail is about 18 cm long. It has dark brown upperparts, with white spots on the wings, and whitish underparts. The fan-shaped tail is edged in white, and the long white supercilia meet on the forehead. The throat and eyemask are blackish and border whitish moustachial stripes.

Distribution and habitat

The white-browed fantail breeds across tropical regions of the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. The species ranges from eastern Pakistan to southern Indochina. It is found in forest and other woodland.

Behaviour and ecology

Three

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

are laid in a small cup nest in a tree. The white-browed fantail is

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores were ...

, and often fans its tail as it moves through the undergrowth.

Gallery

File:White-browed Fantail nest with an egg - In Bakamuna, Sri Lanka.jpg, thumbnail, left, White-browed Fantail nest with an egg on

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

tree branch - In

Bakamuna Bakamuna ( si, බකමුණ) is a village town in Sri Lanka. It is located within North Central Province. History It has many ancient ruins in Sri Lanka such as ''Buduruwayaya temple'', ''Oru bedi Siyambalawa'', and the city is located near ...

, Sri Lanka.jpg Image:White-browed Fantail (Rhipidura aureola) at Sindhrot near Vadodara, Gujrata Pix 223.jpg, at Sindhrot in

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

District of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, India. Image:White-browed Fantail (Rhipidura aureola) at Sindhrot near Vadodara, Gujrat Pix 225.jpg, at Sindhrot in Vadodara District of Gujarat, India. Image:White-browed Fantail (Rhipidura aureola) at Sindhrot near Vadodara, Gujrat Pix 141.jpg, at Sindhrot in Vadodara District of Gujarat, India. Image:AB014 Whitebrowed Fantail Flycatcher.jpg, in

Thar desert The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, Subcontinent that covers an area of and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's Li ...

, India.

References

* ''Birds of India'' by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, {{Taxonbar, from=Q369542 white-browed fantail Birds of South Asia Birds of Southeast Asia white-browed fantail Taxa named by René Lesson