Saw a small blue bird in Australia? Start with size, shape and how much of the bird was actually blue. Bright light can make dark or iridescent feathers look bluer than they really are.
Superb Fairywren — Photo: Wayne Butterworth, CC BY 4.0, source.
Blue-faced Honeyeater — Photo: CanungraDave81, CC BY 3.0, source.
Rainbow Bee-eater — Photo: Peter Firminger, CC BY 2.0, source.
Likely birds to compare
- Superb Fairywren — the leading small-blue candidate. Breeding males show vivid blue and black plumage; females and non-breeding males are much browner.
- Blue-faced Honeyeater — much larger, with obvious bare blue skin around the eye rather than an all-blue body.
- Rainbow Bee-eater — slender and longer-tailed with blue facial tones, green body and long pointed wings.
How to narrow it down
If the bird was tiny, active and moving through low shrubs, a fairywren is the strongest match. If it was medium-sized in flowering trees, check honeyeaters. A long-tailed bird launching from exposed perches to catch insects may be a bee-eater.
Also note location, bill shape, eye colour and whether the bird was alone or in a group. Return to the identification hub if none of these fits.