Yellow-tufted honeyeater

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Yellow-tufted honeyeater

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Meliphagidae
Genus: Lichenostomus
Species:
L. melanops
Binomial name
Lichenostomus melanops
(Latham, 1801)
Yellow-tufted honeyeater near Lithgow, New South Wales

The yellow-tufted honeyeater (Lichenostomus melanops) is a passerine bird found in the south-east ranges of Australia. A predominantly black and yellow honeyeater, it is split into four subspecies.

Taxonomy

The yellow-tufted honeyeater was first described by the English ornithologist

Petroicidae (Australasian robins) in a large corvid superfamily;[4] some researchers include all these families in a broadly defined Corvidae. The generic name Lichenostomus is derived from the Ancient Greek leikhēn 'lichen, callous' and stoma 'mouth'; the specific epithet melanops derives from Ancient Greek melas 'black' and opsis 'face'.[5]

Subspecies

Four races are recognised:

  • L. m. cassidix, helmeted honeyeater, is restricted to a 5 km length of remnant bushland along two streams in the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve, 50 km east of Melbourne, in Victoria. It is the brightest and largest subspecies, weighing 28–32 g (0.99–1.13 oz). In 2003, there were 103 individuals in the wild with 20 breeding pairs known, as well as a further 34 birds in captivity at the Healesville Sanctuary.[6]
  • L. m. gippslandicus, Gippsland yellow-tufted honeyeater
  • L. m. melanops, Sydney yellow-tufted honeyeater
  • L. m. meltoni, inland yellow-tufted honeyeater, is smaller and duller in plumage with a smaller tuft, which was described by G. M. Mathews in 1912.[7]

Description

The yellow-tufted honeyeater is 17–23 cm (6.7–9.1 in) long, with females usually smaller.[8] It has a bright yellow forehead, crown and throat, a glossy black mask and bright golden ear-tufts.[9] The back is olive-green to olive-brown on wings and tail, and the underparts are more olive-yellow.[8][9] The bill and gape are black, eyes brown, and legs grey-brown.[10][11]

Distribution and habitat

The yellow-tufted honeyeater occurs from south-east

brigalow and cypress-pine (Callitris).[11][12]

The helmeted honeyeater subspecies is largely restricted to dense vegetation along riverbanks, dominated by the mountain swamp gum (Eucalyptus camphora) with a dense understorey of woolly tea-tree (Leptospermum lanigerum), scented paperbark (Melaleuca squarrosa), saw-sedge (Gahnia), ferns and tussock grasses.[14][9][11]

Behaviour

Yellow-tufted honeyeaters are a noisy, active species in colonies from a few up to a hundred.[12] It aggressively defends territories around flowering trees.[12] It has a great variety of calls from a warbled "tui-t-tui-t-tui", a whistled "wheit-wheit", a sharp "querk" to a harsh contact-call "yip" or "chop-chop".[10][9][12]

Adult & nestlings Girraween, S. Queensland

Diet and Foraging

The diet of the yellow-tufted honeyeater is primarily

arthropods, such as a variety of insects and spiders, and occasionally snails.[11] It also feeds on lerps and honeydew, nectar and sap flows from eucalypts, occasionally fruit and flowers.[12][9][6] It takes insects in flight and by probing the bark of tree-trunks and limbs.[12]

Breeding

Breeding takes place between July and March (mostly from September to January), with one or two broods each season.

shining bronze-cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus).[11]

Conservation

Yellow-tufted honeyeaters, as a species, are not listed as threatened on the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 or on any state-based legislation. However, at the subspecies level, the helmeted honeyeater (L. m. cassidix) is considered to be threatened:

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22704076A93951572.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Latham, John (1801). Supplementum indicis ornithologici sive systematis ornithologiae (in Latin). London: Leigh & Sotheby. pp. xl, xlix.
  3. ^ Salomonsen, F. (1967). "Family Maliphagidae, Honeyeaters". In Paynter, R.A. Jnr. (ed.). Check-list of Birds of the World (Volume 12). Vol. 12. Cambridge, Mass.: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 385.
  4. PMID 15263073
    .
  5. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). "Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird-names". Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  6. ^ a b Menkhorst P, Smales I, Quin B (2003). "Helmeted Honeyeater Recovery Plan 1999-2003". Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Water Resources. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
  7. ^ Mathews, G.M. (1912). A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novit. Zool. 18: 171-455 [408]
  8. ^
    ISBN 067087918-5
    .
  9. ^
    ISBN 073222436-5
  10. ^
    ISBN 085179813-6
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Higgins, P., L. Christidis, and H. Ford (2020). "Yellow-tufted Honeyeater (Lichenostomus melanops), version 1.0." In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.yethon3.01
  12. ^
    ISBN 978174021417-9
  13. ^ "eBird map: yellow-tufted honeyeater". Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  14. ^ McMahon, A.R.G. and Franklin, D.C. (1993) "The significance of Mountain Swamp Gum for Helmeted Honeyeater populations in the Yarra Valley." Victorian Naturalist 110: 230-237.
  15. ISBN 0-646-42798-9
    .
  16. ^ Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria
  17. ^ Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria
  18. ISBN 978-1-74208-039-0
    .

External links

Wikispecies has information related to Lichenostomus melanops.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lichenostomus melanops.
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