Arafura fantail and Sonneratia alba The Arafura fantail is a small songbird found in mangroves and coastal wooded habitats along the northern coast of Australia from the western edge of Cape York Peninsula to the Kimberley. It is also found on some nearby islands, including southern Papua New Guinea. The males and females of the species look much the same and both cock and fan their tails frequently. They take their name from this behaviour and their proximity to the Arafura Sea. Arafura fantails belong to a group of five closely related species that orthinologists are still working to define. They join mixed species foraging flocks, mostly in the understory, hunting for very small insects and they collect spider webs to bind their nests together. Sonneratia alba is a large evergreen mangrove tree with flowers that open at dusk and last only one night. These saltwater loving trees grow at the seaward edge of mangroves in tropical and subtropical coastal regions and provide food and habitat for many mangrove dwelling species.
