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Red-backed fairywren male in moulting plumage

Fairywrens feed mainly on insects and other small invertebrates, which they glean from foliage, bark and the ground. They may also eat small amounts of seeds and fruit, particularly when insect prey is scarce.Photograph: Michael ChayShare

Red-backed fairywren male in moulting plumage

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Purple-crowned fairywren male in nuptial plumage

‘In late 2022, I was searching for purple-crowned fairywrens near Fitzroy Crossing. In pre-wet season temperatures above 40C, I dug a small waterhole in the dry creek bed near a family of purple-crowned fairywrens and replenished it from a jerrycan, hoping the birds would discover it. I then waited for hours beneath camouflage, lying on a bodyboard to protect myself from the scorching rocks and wearing an ice vest kept frozen in my car freezer.’Photograph: Howard LoosemoreShare

Purple-crowned fairywren male in nuptial plumage

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Splendid fairywren male in nuptial plumage

In nine of the 10 Australian fairywren species, sexually mature males replace their dazzling nuptial plumage with a much duller brown-grey eclipse plumage after breeding. The eclipse plumage makes them much less conspicuous to predators.Photograph: Jan WegenerShare

Splendid fairywren male in nuptial plumage

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Red-winged fairywren male in nuptial plumage

Red-winged and some other species of fairywrens possess ultraviolet sensitive vision and can perceive UV reflections invisible to us. The red-winged male’s blue plumage may therefore appear even more brilliant to a female than it does to us.Photograph: Howard LoosemoreShare

Red-winged fairywren male in nuptial plumage

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Splendid fairywren male in nuptial plumage

When the time comes to construct their nests, in all fairywren species this task falls exclusively to the female. In some fairywren species, males help by gathering or delivering nesting material but they do not take part in weaving or building of the nest itself.Photograph: Howard LoosemoreShare

Splendid fairywren male in nuptial plumage

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Red-backed fairywren male in nuptial plumage

The male red-backed fairywren is the only male to lose all his brilliant breeding colours (including his tail feathers) in full eclipse, changing from striking red and black to brown and even changing his bill from black to reddish or pale pink. It’s a miraculous and unrecognisable transformation, making him very difficult to differentiate from females of the same species in eclipse.Photograph: Jan WegenerShare

Red-backed fairywren male in nuptial plumage

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Superb fairywren male in nuptial plumage

All fairywrens form long-term social partnerships, and defend territories together, but both sexes may also mate outside the social pair. In superb fairywrens this extra-pair paternity has been recorded in up to 95% of broods.Photograph: Darren StephensShare

Superb fairywren male in nuptial plumage

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Purple-backed fairywren female

Fairywren subspecies usually look broadly similar. Across Australia the female nominate subspecies of purple-backed fairywrens are grey, brown, tan and cream-coloured. Two subspecies, Malurus assimilis rogersi and Malurus assimilis dulcis (seen here), however, are entirely different, an unusually dramatic difference within a single fairywren species.Photograph: Laurie RossShare