Microeca fascinans
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The jacky winter (Microeca fascinans) is a small grey-brown robin found commonly throughout Australia and also in Papua New Guinea. The jacky winter acquired its name due to rapid and strong vocalisations, which sound like jacky-jacky winter-winter. Their call is also often referred to as sounding like peter-peter-peter. Its habitats include open woodlands and farmlands.
The jacky winter belongs to the family of Australasian robins and flycatchers Petroicidae. This family includes around 49 species in around 19 genera that are all endemic to Australasia. The family Petroicidae evolved in a similar way to the Australo-Papuan warblers (Acanthizidae)—the latter evolved in isolation from similar families to them, namely Parulidae and Sylviidae, which occupied comparable niches in other continental regions, such as Central /South America and Eurasia, respectively. Petroicidae evolved in the Australo-Papuan area to fill an ecological niche, which was already being used by New World flycatchers (Tyrannidae) in North America and South America, and by Old World flycatchers (Muscicapidae) in Europe, Africa, and Asia. This is an example of convergent evolution....
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hattah-Kulkyne National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Pilliga National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Grampians National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Kosciuszko National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Flinders Ranges National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Great Otway National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Kakadu National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Jacky Winter sighting in Pilliga National Park on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 10th most-seen of the 58 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Jacky Winter in Pilliga National Park on a given day, against about 20% in February and August, the lowest months. January, March–May and October have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Jacky Winter sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Jacky Winter sightings, Pilliga National Park ranks 2nd at about 30%. The best odds are in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park (Australia, about 50%).
Same family: Petroicidae
The closest relatives of the Jacky Winter that you can see in Pilliga National Park (family Petroicidae, Australasian Robins) are Eastern Yellow Robin (about 40%) and Red-capped Robin (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Jacky Winter is recorded against all the birds logged in Pilliga National Park (23 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.
