Fantails are small insect eating birds of southern Asia and Australasia belonging to the genus Rhipidura in the family Rhipiduridae. Most of the species are about 15 to 18 cm long, specialist aerial feeders. When the tail is spread in display or aerial foraging it has a characteristic fan shape that gives the family its name. In some species the tail is longer than the body and in most the tail is longer than the wing.
Fantails adopt a hunched horizontal posture most of the time, with the wings drooped and held away from the body and the tail half cocked. The wings of fantails are tapered and have sacrificed speed for agility, making fantails highly efficient at catching insect prey.
The true wagtails are part of the genus
Motacilla in the family Motacillidae and are not close relatives of the fantails.
The following are the species in the
Rhipidura genus.
Yellow-bellied Fantail, Rhipidura(Chelidorhynx) hypoxantha
Blue Fantail, Rhipidura superciliaris
Blue-headed Fantail, Rhipidura cyaniceps
Chestnut-bellied Fantail, Rhipidura hyperythra
Friendly Fantail, Rhipidura albolimbata
Grey Fantail, Rhipidura albiscapa
New Zealand Fantail, Rhipidura fuliginosa
Lord Howe Fantail, Rhipidura fuliginosa cervina - extinct (c.1925)
Mangrove Fantail, Rhipidura phasiana
Brown Fantail, Rhipidura drownei
Makira Fantail, Rhipidura tenebrosa
Rennell Fantail, Rhipidura rennelliana
Streaked Fantail, Rhipidura verreauxi
Kadavu Fantail, Rhipidura personata
Samoan Fantail, Rhipidura nebulosa
Rusty-bellied Fantail, Rhipidura teysmanni
Tawny-backed Fantail, Rhipidura superflua
Streak-breasted Fantail, Rhipidura dedemi
Long-tailed Fantail, Rhipidura opistherythra
Palau Fantail, Rhipidura lepida
Rufous-backed Fantail, Rhipidura rufidorsa
Bismarck Fantail, Rhipidura dahli
Mussau Fantail, Rhipidura matthiae
Malaita Fantail, Rhipidura malaitae
Arafura Fantail, Rhipidura dryas
Pohnpei Fantail, Rhipidura kubaryi
Rufous Fantail, Rhipidura rufifrons
Manus Fantail, Rhipidura semirubra
Dimorphic Fantail, Rhipidura brachyrhyncha
Black Fantail, Rhipidura atra
Black-and-cinnamon Fantail, Rhipidura nigrocinnamomea
Rufous-tailed Fantail, Rhipidura phoenicura
White-bellied Fantail, Rhipidura euryura
Spotted Fantail, Rhipidura perlata
White-browed Fantail, Rhipidura aureola
Pied Fantail, Rhipidura javanica
White-throated Fantail, Rhipidura albicollis
Brown-capped Fantail, Rhipidura diluta
Cinnamon-tailed Fantail, Rhipidura fuscorufa
Northern Fantail, Rhipidura rufiventris
Cockerell's Fantail or White-winged Fantail, Rhipidura cockerelli
Sooty Thicket Fantail, Rhipidura threnothorax
White-bellied Thicket Fantail, Rhipidura leucothorax
Black Thicket Fantail, Rhipidura maculipectus
Willie Wagtail, Rhipidura leucophrys