White-browed Fantail

The white-browed fantail (Rhipidura aureola) is a slim, active songbird about 17–18 cm long and around 11 g in weight. Its long white eyebrows meet across the forehead above a black mask and throat, while white moustachial stripes frame the dark face. The underparts are pale and the long dark tail has white outer edges.

The white-spotted fantail (Rhipidura albogularis) is the most likely confusion species across much of India. It has a broad white throat, shorter eyebrows and a dark breast band marked with white spots, whereas the white-browed fantail has a black throat and a much stronger white facial pattern.

White-browed fantails inhabit open woodland, dry and deciduous forest, tall scrub, plantations, wooded gardens and the edges of streams and artificial water bodies. They occur widely across the Indian subcontinent and extend east through Myanmar into southern Indochina, with a separate population in Sri Lanka.

The species generally uses the lower and middle levels of vegetation and tolerates a fair amount of habitat modification as long as enough trees, shrubs and feeding cover remain. Gardens, plantations and wooded edges can therefore provide useful habitat alongside natural forest and scrub.

The diet consists mainly of small flying insects and other arthropods. Birds search actively from low and middle-level perches, then make short aerial sallies to catch prey before returning to vegetation.

The tail is opened, closed and twisted repeatedly during foraging. These movements may help disturb hidden insects and make them easier to detect.

White-browed fantails are usually seen alone or in pairs and are active, restless birds. They move rapidly through the lower and middle vegetation, repeatedly fan the tail, switch perches and make short aerial sallies. Contact and alarm calls are given frequently, and the species can also join mixed-species feeding flocks.

A study published in 2002 from Myanmar described white-browed fantails following other insect-eating birds and taking prey disturbed by their movements. The relationship was usually commensal: the fantails benefited from insects flushed by the other birds without an obvious effect on them. When insects were scarce, however, the fantails were also observed stealing prey from accompanying nuthatches. Most populations are resident, although local and altitudinal movements occur in parts of the range.

Breeding timing varies geographically. A six-year study in Sri Lanka followed 14 nests from 2012–2017 and recorded active nests mainly from late March to May. Courtship includes tail-fanning and short flights around the mate. Both adults built the small, neatly constructed cup nests from fibres and roots bound with cobweb, taking 9–13 days to complete them.

Clutches usually contain two or three pale buff to pinkish eggs marked with darker spots and blotches. Both parents incubate, brood and feed the young. The Sri Lankan study found nests in a wide range of settings, including gardens, forest edges, reserves, tea plantations, stream banks and areas beside roads and water bodies, showing how flexibly the species can nest where suitable vegetation remains.

Predation and severe weather can cause nest failure. Cats and birds of prey were among recorded predators, while heavy rain and wind also destroyed nests in the Sri Lankan study.

The white-browed fantail is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List. It has a broad range and remains common in many natural and human-modified wooded habitats.

State of India's Birds 2025 estimates a long-term national decline of about 35.7% and a current annual decline of about 1.6%. Despite the species' broad global distribution, monitoring in India therefore shows a clear decline.