Jacky Winter Microeca fascinans

Length 11.5–14.5 cm; wingspan (22.0–27.5 cm); weight 15 g.

The Jacky Winter is a small, rather upright flycatcher with a short and rather broad bill, a short tail and long wings.  It is usually seen singly or in twos, and less commonly in small family groups.  It is an active, restless, and usually rather tame bird that is typically seen perched, often fairly low down, on the bare branch of dead tree, a fence post, a stump or some other exposed perch.  Jacky Winters dart out from their perch to catch flying insects or snatch them from foliage, a tree-trunk or the ground, before returning repeatedly to the same perch or moving to another.  Foraging flights may cover up to 30–50 metres.  This species’ feeding actions are deft and graceful, with marked aerial agility which incorporates dives, twists and turns, with bouts of hovering low over ground or close to tree-trunks and foliage.  When perched, it sits quietly for extended periods, restlessly wagging its tail from side to side in a shallow figure-of-eight.  Though the species is rather quiet for most of the year, during breeding season Jacky Winters sing incessantly throughout day, either in slow wavering song-flights above the tree-tops or, more often, from high exposed perches.

HABITAT
Jacky Winters inhabit dry, lightly wooded eucalypt woodlands and open forests with an open shrub layer, a sparse ground layer of grasses, and much bare ground and fallen timber.  They are often recorded in box–ironbark communities, and other eucalypt forests or woodlands such as those dominated by Spotted Gum, Silvertop Ash or Woollybutt.  The species also often occurs at ecotones between dense woodland and more open vegetation, such as between forest and farmland or clearings, or between woodland and heathland, either within or adjacent to eucalypt communities.  They also occur along watercourses in open eucalypt forests, and on floodplains, such as in River Red Gum forest with a grassy understorey.  In open eucalypt forests with a dense understorey, the species is often restricted to ridges where the understorey is sparser.  It also sometimes occurs in cypress-pine forest as well as among eucalypts.  In south-eastern Queensland, Jacky Winters are usually restricted to open eucalypt forest, but are very occasionally they are recorded in Brigalow softwood.  In south-eastern Australia, some local populations of Jacky Winters are said to move from moist habitats to drier ones during winter.  They are often observed in farmland and parks.

DISTRIBUTION
Widespread in mainland Australia, but absent from Tasmania.  Elsewhere, they also occur in south-eastern New Guinea, between Port Moresby and Bereina.

STATUS

• Declining in New South Wales
• Declining in Victoria, and listed as a member of a declining Temperate Woodland Community in Victoria
• Rare in South Australia (South-East)

THREATS
Declines have been noted in areas where native vegetation extensively cleared for agriculture, grazing or housing developments.  The species is sometimes killed or injured by cats or dogs.  There is no evidence to support a suggestion that the widespread use of insecticides has adversely affected the species.

MOVEMENTS
The species has been described variously as a resident, sedentary, a seasonal visitor and being nomadic.  In south-eastern Australia, some local populations of Jacky Winters are said to move from moist habitats to drier ones during winter.

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