The white-throated fantail (''Rhipidura albicollis'') is a small passerine bird. It is found in forest, scrub and cultivation across tropical southern Asia from the Himalayas, India and Bangladesh east to Indonesia. The white-spotted fantail (''R. albogularis'') until recently was considered a subspecies.

Description

The adult white-throated fantail is about long. It has a dark fan-shaped tail, edged in white, and white supercilium and throat. There is otherwise much variation in plumage between races. Most resemble the Himalayan ''R. a. canescans'' which is mainly slate grey above and below, with a black eye mask, and a white throat and eyebrow. Local names for the bird in India include ''Nasoni sorai'' (

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Behaviour

The white-throated fantail lays three eggs in a small cup nest in a tree. It is

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, and often fans its tail as it moves through the undergrowth. The eggs are approximately in length. They are white in colour, with a band of brown spots around the middle, closer towards the base of the egg. Birds use the same song year after year, with progressively small changes, with the result that the song sounds very different after 4–5 years. The male's call is a valuable tool in detection and identification of the bird, which can often be confused with the

white-browed fantail The white-browed fantail (''Rhipidura aureola'') is a small passerine bird belonging to the family Rhipiduridae. Description The adult white-browed fantail is about 18 cm long. It has dark brown upperparts, with white spots on the wings, ...

, ''R. aureola'', where their ranges overlap. ''R. aureola'' has light underparts and prominent spots in two rows on the wings.

Subspecies

According to IOC there are 9 recognised subspecies.Gill F., Donsker D. & Rasmussen P. (Eds.)
Orioles, drongos, fantails
'' IOC World Bird List (v11.2)''. doi:10.14344/IOC.ML.11.2 In alphabetical order, these are: * ''R. a. albicollis'' (Vieillot, 1818) * ''R. a. atrata'' Salvadori, 1879 * ''R. a. canescens'' (Koelz, 1939) * ''R. a. celsa'' Riley, 1929 * ''R. a. cinerascens'' Delacour, 1927 * ''R. a. kinabalu'' Chasen, 1941 * ''R. a. orissae'' Ripley, 1955 * ''R. a. sarawacensis'' Chasen, 1941 * ''R. a. stanleyi''

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, 1916

Gallery

References

* ''Birds of India'' by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, {{Taxonbar, from=Q1591229 white-throated fantail Birds of the Himalayas Birds of East India Birds of South China Birds of Southeast Asia white-throated fantail white-throated fantail