The Rufous Fantail is a small bird with a reddish-brown rump and a tail it often spreads into a fan.
The crown, face, neck, and shoulders are gray-brown, changing to reddish brown on the lower back and rump. The eyebrow is reddish brown, the throat white, and the breast dappled black and white.
It searches for insects mostly in the middle and lower canopy, darting from perches and often fanning its tail as it forages.
It is often found in moist eucalypt forest and rainforest, especially in dense, shady undergrowth in gullies.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.