The white-browed fantail gets part of its name (the "white-browed" portion) from a thick white supercilium. The second part of its name comes from the tail which can "fan out" much like a turkey tail. The two outer tailfeathers are all white, the four central tailfeathers are all brown (or almost all brown), and the other tailfeathers are a mixture of white and brown (white toward the tip and brown toward the base). There are three subspecies. We saw the nominate subspecies, aureola, in Zone 4 of Ranthambore NP in northern India, southwest of Jaipur.
This was one of the few new "lifer" birds I saw in Ranthambore which was a disappointment for me. I'd expected a lot more bird species. The white-browed fantail is a fascinating and beautiful bird which was quite active while we watched it.
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| Illustration from Birds of the World. |
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| Range from Birds of the World. |
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