Rhipidura rennelliana
The Rennell Fantail (Rhipidura rennelliana) is a captivating, small passerine bird endemic to Rennell Island in the Solomon Islands archipelago. Measuring approximately 13-15 cm in length, it is characterized by its dull olive-brown upperparts, a paler, yellowish-white belly, and a distinctive rufous-chestnut rump and undertail coverts, which serve as key field marks. Its most prominent feature, true to its family, is a long, rounded tail that is frequently fanned and flicked during foraging ...
This species primarily inhabits the undisturbed, dense lowland primary forest and mature secondary growth of Rennell Island, favoring the understory and mid-canopy strata up to around 100 meters elevation.
The Rennell Fantail is exclusively insectivorous, feeding on a variety of small flying insects, which it captures primarily through aerial hawking and gleaning from vegetation.
Rennell Fantails are highly active and restless birds, spending their days constantly moving through the forest understory, often in mixed-species foraging flocks. Their primary foraging strategy involves acrobatic aerial hawking, where they sally forth from a perch to catch flying insects, often...
The Rennell Fantail is strictly endemic to Rennell Island, the southernmost island in the Solomon Islands archipelago, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Its entire global distribution is confined to this single, relatively small island. There is no known breeding or wintering range outsi...
Near Threatened
- The Rennell Fantail is a true island endemic, found nowhere else on Earth but the remote Rennell Island in the Solomon Islands. - Unlike many fantails, its tail lacks prominent white or patterned markings, relying on its rufous rump and active fanning for identification. - It frequently joins m...