Yellow-plumed honeyeater
Yellow-plumed honeyeater | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Meliphagidae |
Genus: | Ptilotula |
Species: | P. ornata
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Binomial name | |
Ptilotula ornata (Gould, 1838)
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Synonyms | |
Lichenostomus ornatus |
The yellow-plumed honeyeater (Ptilotula ornata) is a species of
and Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.The yellow-plumed honeyeater was previously placed in the genus
Description
The yellow-plumed honeyeater is a medium-sized honeyeater with a relatively long, down-curved black bill, a dark face and a distinctive, upswept yellow neck plume.[4] It has an olive-green head, with a faint yellow line under the dark eye, grey-green upperparts, and heavily streaked grey-brown underparts.[4] Young birds have a yellow bill base and eye-ring.[4]
Similar species include purple-gaped honeyeater,[5] grey-fronted honeyeater[4] and fuscous honeyeater.[5][4]
Call
The song is a loud, clear, three-note chier wit chier, often performed before dawn, and by males during display flight.[6]
Distribution
The yellow-plumed honeyeater is endemic to southern mainland Australia, from western New South Wales and Victoria, through South Australia to south-west Western Australia.[4]
Ecology and behaviour
The main habitat type for yellow-plumed honeyeater is
They occur in sedentary, colonial groups, which may relocate in response to harsh conditions.[6] They are noisy and conspicuous, and will jointly defend nesting or feeding territories, by engaging in communal wing quivering displays.[6]
Diet
Yellow-plumed honeyeaters are mainly insectivorous, foraging actively mainly in outer and upper foliage, branches and trunks of eucalypts, and taking insects on the wing by hawking. [5] They also feed opportunistically on nectar,[6] including from various mallee eucalypts, yellow gum, grey box, red ironbark, and box mistletoe.[5]
Reproduction
Yellow-plumed honeyeaters build an open, cup-shaped nest suspended by the rim from foliage or from a thin fork of mallee eucalypts and other small shrubs.[4] Nests are made from wool, green grass and spider webs, and lined with wool, grasses, plant-down and brightly-coloured feathers.[4] Both parents feed the young, sometimes with the assistance of helpers.[4]
Yellow-plumed honeyeater nests are parasitised by
Conservation actions
Conservation status
The species is listed under the
Protected areas
The yellow-plumed honeyeater occurs in several protected areas, including:
- New South Wales
- South Australia
- Victoria
- * Greater Bendigo National Park[5]
- * Inglewood Nature Conservation Reserve[5]
- * Wychitella Nature Conservation Reserve[5]
References
- ^ . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- S2CID 85333285.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Honeyeaters". World Bird List Version 6.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- ^ Birdlife Australia. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- ^ ISBN 9781486313150
- ^ ISBN 9781486311934
- ISBN 1-74122-081-5. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
- Birdlife Australia. April 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
External links
- Photos, audio and video of yellow-plumed honeyeater from Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library
- Recording of yellow-plumed honeyeater from Graeme Chapman's sound library