6, see text The superb fairywren (Malurus cyaneus) is a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae, and is common and familiar across south-eastern Australia.

The superb fairywren can be found in almost any area that has at least a little dense undergrowth for shelter, including grasslands with scattered shrubs, moderately thick forest, woodland, heaths, and domestic gardens.

[4] William Anderson, surgeon and naturalist on Captain James Cook's third voyage, collected the first superb fairywren specimen in 1777 while traveling off the coast of eastern Tasmania, in Bruny Island's Adventure Bay.

[6] Shortly after the First Fleet's arrival at Port Jackson, Sydney, the bird gained the common name superb warbler.

[15] More recently, DNA analysis has shown the family Maluridae to be related to the Meliphagidae (honeyeaters), and the Pardalotidae (pardalotes, scrubwrens, thornbills, gerygones and allies) in the large superfamily Meliphagoidea.

[18] Six subspecies are currently recognized:[19] In his 1982 monograph, Schodde proposed a southern origin for the common ancestor of the superb and splendid fairywrens.

In the east, the superb fairywren spread into Tasmania during a glacial period when the sea level was low and the island was connected with the rest of the continent via a land bridge.

[21] A 2017 genetic study using both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA found the ancestors of the superb and splendid fairywrens diverged from each other around 4 million years ago, and their common ancestor diverged around 7 million years ago from a lineage that gave rise to the white-shouldered, white-winged and red-backed fairywrens.

[27] The superb fairywren is 14 cm (5+1⁄2 in) long[29] and weighs 8–13 g (0.28–0.46 oz),[30] with males on average slightly larger than females.

[35] The breeding male has a bright-blue forehead, ear coverts, mantle and tail, brown wings, and black throat, eye band, breast and bill.

[38] The blue plumage also reflects ultraviolet light strongly, and so may be even more prominent to other fairywrens, whose colour vision extends into this part of the spectrum.

[41] Males also possess a peculiar song-like Type II vocalization, which is given in response to the calls of predatory birds, commonly grey butcherbirds.

[43] The superb fairywrens' alarm call is a series of brief sharp chits, universally given and understood by small birds in response to predators.

[44] The superb fairywren is common throughout most of the relatively wet and fertile south-eastern corner of the continent, from the south-east of South Australia (including Kangaroo Island and Adelaide) and the tip of the Eyre Peninsula, through all of Victoria, Tasmania, coastal and sub-coastal New South Wales and Queensland, through the Brisbane area and extending inland – north to the Dawson River and west to Blackall; it is a common bird in the suburbs of Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.

[45] Lantana (Lantana camara), a prolific weed in Australia, has also been beneficial in providing shelter in disturbed areas,[30] as has the introduced and invasive blackberry[46] Unlike other fairywrens, it appears to benefit from the urban environment and has out-competed the introduced house sparrow in one study on the grounds of the Australian National University in Canberra.

Movement is a series of jaunty hops and bounces,[51] with its balance assisted by a proportionally large tail, which is usually held upright, and rarely still.

[53] The superb fairywren is a cooperative breeding species, with pairs or groups of 3–5 birds maintaining and defending small territories year-round.

[54] Major nest predators include Australian magpies, butcherbirds, laughing kookaburra, currawongs, crows and ravens, shrike-thrushes as well as introduced mammals such as the red fox, cat and black rat.

The head, neck and tail are lowered, wings held out and feathers fluffed as the bird runs rapidly and voices a continuous alarm call.

During this exaggerated flight, the male—with his neck extended and his head feathers erect—tilts his body from horizontal to vertical, and descends slowly and springs upwards by rapidly beating his wings after alighting on the ground.

[64] Breeding occurs from spring through to late summer; the nest is a round or domed structure made of loosely woven grasses and spider webs, with an entrance in one side generally close to the ground, under 1 m (3.3 ft), and in thick vegetation.