Important news for the Fairywren Project and our participants! The 2018 eBird annual taxonomy update has taken place and one of the major changes is the split of the Variegated and Purple-backed Fairywrens. The Variegated Fairywren range has been updated to east of the Great Dividing Range in Southeast Queensland, while the Purple-backed Fairywren can be found west of the GDR, with an overlap zone between the species in parts of South-east QLD and North-East NSW.
In terms of determining which species you’re looking at in the overlap zone, Matt Gilfedder of eBird Australia reports: “The main feature to focus on in order to identify these species from each other is the colour of the mantle on the brightly coloured males. In the east-edge of their range, Purple-backed have a “mid violet blue” mantle, compared to the “royal blue” of the Variegated.”
See the eBird Australia article for more information and photos of each of the species. We will update our species descriptions on the Fairywren Project in the next couple weeks to reflect this change.
