As a child that was certainly where I first saw these friendly birds and like everyone else fondly referred to them as “Willies”.

The second thing I learnt about “Willies” was that their musical call could be translated as “sweet-pretty-creature”, a phrase that still makes me smile when I hear them call to this day. They also have a chattering, scolding call when they are annoyed.

The calls can be heard day or night and they can be particularly vocal on moonlit nights.

Willie Wagtails are the largest and most well known of Australian Fantails and are named for the almost constant side to side wagging of their tails.

These mostly black birds have a white belly and throat and a white eyebrow and are active and conspicuous in their natural habitat.

While the white eyebrow of the male bird is attractive to female wagtails it has the opposite effect on rival males.

Males show aggression by expanding the eyebrow during a territorial dispute and the loser shows submission by hiding the eyebrow completely giving the impression of a young immature bird.

The preferred habitat of Willie Wagtails is open forest and woodland near watercourses and wetlands.

They are rarely found in rainforest areas.

They are common around human habitation, singly or in pairs and are found throughout Australia.

They have adapted well to human alteration of the landscape and particularly like gardens with lots of damp leaf litter to forage in. They will use this to make their nests.

Wagtails are active feeders and are constantly darting around, often on the ground looking for food.

They can also perform spectacular aerial manoeuvres in pursuit of flying insects.

These energetic birds make beautiful neat cup-shaped nests out of grass and bind them with spiders’ webs.

They are great recyclers, and will reuse material to rebuild a damaged nest.

Often the nests are co-located with the nest of a magpie-lark – also commonly referred to as a peewee – whose protective aggression inadvertently extends to the nearby Willie Wagtail nest.

Willie Wagtails are feisty little birds with endearing habits and loads of character.

They are delightful little birds that are most certainly worth encouraging into your backyard.