Wren Behaviour Questions

[desertbirds]

I have a few questions on Wren behaviour. While taking pics last weekend these two snuck off into the bush did a bit of alo- preening and sat together for a bit. Is this normal and would these two birds be hens ? The other question is, are the sub males visibly different from females ?

[natamambo]

Sub males and young eclipse males can be very hard to tell from hens. The older a cock gets the less blue it loses during it's eclipse plumage. Never seen wrens allo-preening but those are young birds I reckon so it could be a comfort thing.

[Tintola]

Are these Splendid/Turquoise ? If so they are both young males as the hens don't have any blue on the wings. They allopreen in groups or pairs , usually in a sunny spot. A group will also sleep in a line for warmth

[desertbirds]

Yes these are Splendids, i was told by a guide at work that they are not Turquoise Wrens ?? Maybe you could enlighten me on that point two as i thought thay were turquoise .I will have to look more closey at this group that hangs out at work as i thought all the birds carried blue in the wings ( i could be wrong on that one) Thanks for the replies and yes Tintola these two did pick a nice sunny patch in amongst the under growth.

[Tintola]

The ones around your area are a subspecies of Splendids (Malurus splendens splendens) the most western one, called Turquoise ( Malurus splendens callainus) which is found in the middle of the range. The third one of the subspecies is the Black backed wren (Malurus slendens melanotus) which is found further east again.

[VR1Ton]

They should be Turquoise at the Alice

[desertbirds]

Yes thats what i thought VR. I have two field guides saying different names for the species here and then i heard that all birds were re-classified recently so i just gave up getting an acurate scientific name.