Yes, I have lots more pics from our New Zealand trip, but first, one of the locals.
I think this is as close as I’ve come to capturing the colors of the Superb Fairy Wren. Usually the chin and chest looks black, but in fact it is a dark blue (sometimes a bit purple-y) rimmed with black. Also in this photo, you can see how the males fan out the azure feathers below their eyes when putting on a display (as this little guy was doing, [note the slightly lifted wings] complete with vocalizations).
If you check out the Superb Fairy Wren at Wikipedia, you will notice that the blue on wrens in the photos seems lighter in color that our local wrens – and you’d be right. Tasmania has a slightly larger and darker subspecies Malurus cyaneus cyaneus. This is fairly common. Tasmania is colder than most of the rest of Australia and certainly colder than most of Australasia. This means that animals often need to be bigger to stay warm, and darker to blend in with a more forested environment.
