Rhipidura rufiventris
Silhouette: Michael Scroggie · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The northern fantail (Rhipidura rufiventris) is a species of bird in the family Rhipiduridae. It is found in New Guinea, Timor, and northern Australia (from Broome in Western Australia to the Shire of Burdekin in Queensland). Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.
The northern fantail was formally described in 1818 as Platyrhynchos rufiventris by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot. The specific epithet is Modern Latin meaning "red-bellied" from Latin rufus meaning "ruddy" or "rufous" with venter, ventris meaning "belly". Vieillot mistakenly believed that the specimen had been collected in "Nouvelle-Hollande" (Australia). The type locality has been designated as the island of Timor. The specimen described by Vieillot had probably been collected in 1801 by René Maugé de Cely during the Baudin expedition to Australia. The northern fantail is now placed in the genus Rhipidura that was introduced in 1827 by Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nitmiluk National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Kakadu National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Litchfield National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 5 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Fantail sighting in Nitmiluk National Park on a given day, based on 195 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 19th most-seen of the 103 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and September–November
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Fantail in Nitmiluk National Park on a given day, against about 30% in May, July–August and December–February, the lowest months. Those are among Nitmiluk National Park's driest months, with about 45 mm of rain a month against 270 mm in January.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Northern Fantail sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Northern Fantail sightings, Nitmiluk National Park has the highest daily chance: about 40%. Next come Kakadu National Park (Australia, about 40%) and Litchfield National Park (Australia, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Northern Fantail is recorded against all the birds logged in Nitmiluk National Park (195 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
