Black Fantail (Rhipidura atra)
About the Black Fantail
The black fantail (Rhipidura atra) is a species of bird in the family Rhipiduridae. It is endemic to the highlands of New Guinea and the nearby island of Waigeo. The species was named by Italian naturalist Tommaso Salvadori in 1876, who gave it the specific name atra for the Latin word for dull black. Two subspecies have been described, the widespread nominate race R. a. atra, and R. a. vulpes of the Cyclops Mountains. R. a. vulpes was described in 1931 by Ernst Mayr, who named it from the rufous colour of foxes. Whithin the genus Rhipidura the closest relative of the black fantail is uncertain, a 2009 study of the genetics of the family found 6 well defined clades within the fantails but could not place this species with any of them.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 17 recordings for this species: 3 CC BY-NC-ND · 2 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Malaysian Pied FantailRhipidura javanicarecording
- Philippine Pied FantailRhipidura nigritorquisrecording
- White-browed FantailRhipidura aureolarecording
- Willie WagtailRhipidura leucophrysrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.