Suhas Sudhakar Kulkarni, Different colours of Superb Fairy Wren (ANIMAL & NATURE 2025)

Last couple of years, I have been observing Superb Fairy wren's colour changes throughout different seasons. What a great experience to capture! Male fairy wrens, during their breeding season, have bright blue and dark colours. After the mating season, the male goes to eclipse plumage, where the body turns into dull and brown colour. But the tail remains blue. Next season, while going back to the breeding plumage, there is an intermediate steps (found in young males too). In the intermediate plumage, there are blue patches over the top part and the tail remains blue. While the male goes through these colour transitions, the female always remains with brown plumage. The females also have reddish-orange eye ring and reddish-brown beak.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.