These guys are the welcoming committee of the New Zealand bush, turning this way and that, giving their loud ‘cheet cheet’ calls, showing off their tails, all the while continuing to hunt for the insects that make up the bulk of their diet. The fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa) has over a dozen names in Maori, many of which relate to its restlessness. The most well-known Maori name is pīwakawaka. Fantails build cupped nests from moss, hair, dried grass and cobwebs, and they anchor them in the forks of trees. They’ll have two or more clutches over the breeding season, depending on the weather. We’ve had a long, warm summer this year in the Tasman District, and there seem to be a lot of fantails around. The day this photo was taken in the Ellis River Valley, the photographer was regularly mobbed by, um, mobs of fantails. (Actually, the collective term for groups of fantails is said by one website to be “a spread”.)
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