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                    Superb City Wrens

                    Male Superb Fairy-wren

                    ​Male Superb Fairy-wren (Photo: Dean Ingwersen)

                    City of Melbourne is planning strategic vegetation works to improve habitat and ecological connectivity for small birds like the Superb Fairy-wren, and understand where they’re living.

                    We are partnering with BirdLife Australia, RMIT University, the University of Melbourne, and the broader community to record:

                    • Sightings
                    • Movement patterns
                    • Other information on these birds.

                    We want to find out where Superb Fairy-wrens are living and foraging the Parkville area and importantly, where they’re not, so we can improve habitat where it is needed most.  

                    We are asking the community to become a ‘wren watcher’ by conducting a 15-minute ‘wren watch’ in one of 50 designated survey areas.

                    How you can get involved

                    Become a wren watcher and help us record banded birds at key survey areas in and around Parkville. Have a go at conducting a 15-minute ‘wren watch’ at one of our 50 designated survey areas and report your sightings through the BioCollect App. It’s really simple. Learn more at Superb City Wrens: An urban citizen-science project.

                    Sites we are interested in surveying

                    We’ve picked 50 survey areas in and around Parkville that we’re most interested in. Find out more information on how to undertake a 15-minute 'wren watch' survey at How to become a wren watcher.

                    Map of Royal Park showing wren observation sites

                    About the Superb Fairy-wren

                    Superb Fairy-wrens are found throughout south-eastern Australia. They are an ideal study species to monitor because their presence or absence is closely linked to habitat quality, and they are easy to identify. They are common in urban parks and gardens but depend on dense shrubs that provide them protection from predators, and a safe place to nest.

                    Superb Fairy-wrens live in small social groups of three to five birds, usually comprised of one dominant male and several female and juvenile birds, which maintain and defend their territories. They forage for insects on the ground and below shrubs, which makes them easy for predators to access and vulnerable to habitat loss from urbanisation. 

                    What they look like

                    Superb Fairy-wrens are small birds with a round body and a long upright tail.

                    Adult breeding males have bright blue and black plumage around the head and throat, a blue tail, and a black bill. Their colouring is brightest during the breeding season (spring through to late summer).

                    Non-breeding adult males have greyish-brown plumage, often with a blue tail. They have black bills.

                    Female and juvenile birds also have greyish-brown plumage, but have distinguishing red-orange colouring around the eyes and bill.





                    Adult male
                    (Photo: Andrew Silcocks)
                    ​Non-breeding adult male
                    (Photo: Andrew Silcocks)
                    ​Female and juveniles
                    (Photo: Andrew Silcocks)



                    Tracking banded birds

                    To help us understand how successful our habitat restoration works are, we’ve given local Superb Fairy-wrens coloured leg bands. This will allow us to identify and track movement patterns of the birds over time, as well as provide us with further information for improving their survival and quality of habitat around the city. 

                    Throughout November 2021 to April 2022, licensed experts from BirdLife Australia safely captured and fitted coloured leg bands on 55 local Superb Fairy-wrens, along with a number of other small birds around Trin-Warren Tam-Boore wetland in Royal Park.

                    Each bird has been banded with a metal band on the bird’s left leg that is colour coded for the area they were caught in. On the right leg are two coloured bands that helps identify which individual bird it is. 

                    Other small birds that have been banded include the White-browed Scrubwren, New Holland Honeyeater, Brown Thornbill, Eastern Spinebill and Willie Wagtails.

                    In late spring to summer this year, our licensed bird experts will be undertaking more banding – this time, of juvenile Superb Fairy-wrens so we can understand where they are travelling to. These juvenile birds are likely to benefit greatest from any new understorey habitat plantings, so it’s important we monitor their movements. 

                    A male superb fairy wren held by a human hand

                    ​Male superb fairy-wren with coloured bands. Photo: Kerryn Herman

                    Superb City Wrenfest 2021

                    In November 2021, 200 wren enthusiasts got involved in the Superb City Wrenfest – a two week festival to celebrate Superb Fairy-wrens, increase people’s connection with these iconic and important birds in the City and seek citizen scientists’ assistance to track the bird’s movements over time.

                    The Wrenfest kicked off on Monday 15 November 2021 with a Welcome Webinar, featuring online talks from bird experts and a live Q&A with the Superb City Wrens project team.  

                    Local residents had the opportunity to attend ten guided morning bird surveys around the Trin-Warren Tam-boore Wetland at Royal Park, getting familiar with Superb Fairy-wrens, and learning how to undertake a standardised ’2 hectare, 20 minute’ bird survey and how identify coloured bands on the bird’s legs. 

                    City of Melbourne Park Rangers helped families get to know birds better with engaging kid-friendly activities. Kids learned about what kinds of foods birds eat, why Superb Fairy-wrens need dense vegetation, and the types of threats that Superb Fairy-wrens and other small birds are faced with in our City. 

                    Photography enthusiasts had a chance to learn tips and tricks for effective and ethical bird photography from professional photographer Ewen Bell through an online ‘Bird Photography 101’ workshop and in-person ‘Wrens and Friends’ photography walk at Royal Park. 

                    Excitingly, licensed experts from BirdLife Australia fitted coloured leg bands on 13 local Superb Fairy-wrens and a range of other small birds in Royal Park, to help keep track of how individual birds are moving around the landscape. 

                    With lots of citizen scientists now more familiar with how to identify and record sightings of Superb Fairy-wrens through participating in the Wrenfest, the Superb City Wrens project team are seeking long-term data collection by citizen scientists to help us find out more about the movement patterns of these birds over time.

                    More information

                    For more information about this project head to Superb City Wrens.

                    You can contact our project team at nature@melbourne.vic.gov.au

                    Connect with the Superb City Wrens community on Facebook.



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