Fantail Attack
LISTEN TO 🔊RATHNAPURI, HUNSUR
14th of June 2026
Although it is June in this recording, it is still a spring of virility for the Spot-breasted fantail Rhipidura albogularis, which can extend its search for mate even late into September. I mistakenly believed this Passerine was sallying from branch to branch, making wide zig-zags across my path before briefly pirouetting with its characteristic fanned tail display. The species has an opposite temperament to the similarly small, talkative and abundant Oriental magpie-robin Copsychus saularis, which here was known to produce members friendly to people, including one that stalked the residents for food and stole directly from their dinner plates. Instead, the fantails were always found sallying for insects deeper in the foliage and weary of people. The particular fantail recorded here was, in fact, performing a territorial display, which ultimately ended with an aggressive aerial swerve that reached a few inches from my face. Violence from a small, dusty, slate grey songbird in the heat of the moment.