Meet the Superb Fairy-Wren. I don’t know how it got that adjective attached to its name, but it sure fits. Like several other breathtakingly beautiful birds in Australia, this little guy is very common. That doesn’t mean we ever got tired of seeing them. Far from it. He’s only about five inches long, but that brilliant blue makes him impossible to overlook.
There are 15 species of fairy-wrens in Australia; they are not related to the true wrens of the Northern Hemisphere. Why they’re called fairy-wrens is another mystery to me. They eat mostly insects, of which Australia has no shortage.
This is one of the birds I was most eager to see and photograph on our recent trip. My wife was first to see and take a picture of one. I was down on the beach at the 12 Apostles taking some pictures while she stayed atop the cliff and spotted one hopping around. She’s quite proud of that! I got this shot a few days later at a nature preserve.
Superb, I’m sure you’ll agree.