Willie Wagtail - Willy Wagtail - Rhipidura leucophrys

Willie Wagtail

Rhipidura leucophrys

Other Names: Willy Wagtail
Family: Rhipidurinae (Fantails, 5 species in Australia)
Size: 19-22 cm
Distribution: All of Australia except the southernmost 2/3 of TAS
Status: Abundant to Common
Habitat: Everywhere except very wet forests
References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

A well known bird, the Willie Wagtail is well dressed in black and white and tails. It shakes its tail from side to side and sings a song that is meant to sound like it is saying "Sweet pretty creature". Apart from that call it also makes chip chip chip noises when it is alarmed or when it wants you to go away.

Willie Wagtail - Willy Wagtail - Rhipidura leucophrys
Photo: Wentworth Falls Lake, Blue Mountains NSW

Some Birdwatching Resources

The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia, Graham Pizzey and Frank Knight. This is the other of the two best bird field guides for Australia. It is the one preferred by many serious birdwatchers. However I find the pictures a bit dull looking for my taste — the birds all kind of look the same to me, making it harder to remember them in my mind. The illustrations are meant to be the most anatomically correct, though. The text descriptions are better than in Simpson and Day. If you want the most serious bird field guide get this one otherwise get Simpson and Day.

Purchase 9th ed. from Australia (Booktopia)

Purchase 9th ed. from Australia (Angus & Robertson)

Purchase 9th ed. from Australia (Dymocks)

Click here to purchase 9th ed. from Australia (The Nile)

Click here to purchase from Australia (Fishpond)

Click here to preorder the 9th ed. from Amazon

Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds, Peter Slater, Pat Slater and Raoul Slater. This is a smaller field guide, and its advantage is it is easy to carry around. Its size is 21.3 x 11.4 x 2.8 centimetres, or 8.4 x 4.5 x 1.1 inches in the old scale. So it is a good one to get if you want to have your field guide with you out in the field. Unlike most of the field guides it also has illustrations of the eggs of all the birds that breed in Australia. It has very good reviews on Amazon.

Click here to Purchase from Australia (Booktopia)

Purchase from Australia (Angus & Robertson)

Click here to purchase from Australia (The Nile) $28.45 AUD (May be unavailable)

Click here to purchase from Australia (Fishpond) May be expensive.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

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Willie Wagtail

Rhipidura leucophrys

Some Birdwatching Resources

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