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White-throated Fantail
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Dicruridae Genus: Rhipidura Species: R. albicollis
Binomial name
Rhipidura albicollis (Vieillot, 1818)

The White-throated Fantail, Rhipidura albicollis, is a small passerine bird . It was previously classified with the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, but the paradise flycatchers, monarch flycatchers and Australasian fantails are now normally grouped with the drongos in the family Dicruridae, which has most of its members in Australasia and tropical southern Asia.

The White-throated Fantail breeds across tropical southern Asia from the Himalayas, India and Bangladesh east to Indonesia. This species is found in forest, scrub and cultivation.

at Narendrapur in Kolkata

nest after use at Narendrapur in Kolkata

The adult White-throated Fantail is about 19 cm long. It has a dark fan-shaped tail, edged in white, and white supercilium and throat. There is otherwise much variation in plumage between races. For example, the Himalayan R. a. canescans is mainly slate grey above and below, with a black eye mask, whereas R. a. albogularis of peninsular India has dark grey upperparts, whitish underparts, and a grey breast band.

The White-throated Fantail lays three eggs in a small cup nest in a tree.

The White-throated Fantail is insectivorous, and often fans its tail as it moves through the undergrowth.

Not normally renowned as a songster, the male of R. a. albogularis, the peninsular race, uses a fixed and unmistakable pattern of musical notes in its call. The notes are loud and normally divided into two stanzas - the first with 5-6 trilling notes rising and falling, followed by 4-5 notes rising up the scale and ending in the highest note.

Birds use the same song year after year, with progressively small changes, with the result that the song sounds very different after 4-5 years. The male's call is a valuable tool in detection and identification of the bird, which can often be confused with the White-browed Fantail, R. aureola, where their ranges overlap. R. aureola has light underparts and prominent spots in two rows on the wings. Its call is rather functional, and not as pleasant and aesthetic as that of R. albicollis.

at Narendrapur in Kolkata.	nest after use at Narendrapur.	at nest in Kullu & Manali District of Himachal Pradesh	at nest in Kullu & Manali District
at nest in Kullu & Manali District	at nest in Kullu & Manali District	at Mulund, Mumbai outside the balcony

• BirdLife International (2004). Rhipidura albicollis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 09 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6

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