Fantails are small, insectivorous birds of Australasia belonging to the genusRhipidura. Four of the five species are about 15 to 18 cm long, specialist aerial feeders, and known as "fantails"; the fifth, the Willie Wagtail, is a little larger and though still an expert hunter of insects on the wing, concentrates as much on terrestrial prey.
Note that the true wagtails are part of the genus Motacilla and family Motacillidae and are not particularly close relatives of the fantails.
Four of the five species are about 15 to 18 cm long, specialist aerial feeders, and known as "fantails"; the fifth, the Willie Wagtail, is a little larger and though still an expert hunter of insects on the wing, concentrates as much on terrestrial prey.
Note that the true wagtails are part of the genusMotacilla and family Motacillidae and are not particularly close relatives of the fantails.
The Grey Fantail is plain in colour: mid to dark grey or grey-brown above, lighter (often yellowish) below, with a white throat, white markings over the eye, and (depending on the race) either white-edged or entirely white outer tail feathers.
It grows to some 16 centimentres in length, of which half is the tail, which, as the name implies, is often fanned out during display.
Colour, however, is not the Grey Fantail's hallmark: it is movement, for during waking hours the bird is almost never still.
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