Honeyeaters
Little Wattlebird, feedingPhoto: R Major © Australian Museum
Honeyeaters are a diverse group of Australian birds belonging to the family Meliphagidae. One of their special characteristics is a 'brush-tipped' tongue, with which they take up nectar from flowers. However, nectar is only one of their foods. Most honeyeaters also eat insects, and some eat more insects than nectar. Many honeyeaters also feed on pollen, berries and sugary exudates (e.g. sap) of plants as well as the sugary secretions of plant bugs (e.g. psyllids).
Fact sheet list
- Bell Miner
- Black Honeyeater
- Black-chinned Honeyeater
- Black-headed Honeyeater
- Blue-faced Honeyeater
- Brown Honeyeater
- Brown-headed Honeyeater
- Crescent Honeyeater
- Eastern Spinebill
- Fuscous Honeyeater
- Lewin's Honeyeater
- Little Friarbird
- Little Wattlebird
- New Holland Honeyeater
- Noisy Friarbird
- Noisy Miner
- Painted Honeyeater
- Pied Honeyeater
- Red Wattlebird
- Regent Honeyeater
- Scarlet Honeyeater
- Singing Honeyeater
- Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
- Striped Honeyeater
- Strong-billed Honeyeater
- White-cheeked Honeyeater
- White-eared Honeyeater
- White-fronted Honeyeater
- White-fronted Chat
- White-naped Honeyeater
- White-plumed Honeyeater
- Yellow Wattlebird
- Yellow-faced Honeyeater
- Yellow-plumed Honeyeater
- Yellow-throated Honeyeater
- Yellow-throated Miner
- Yellow-tufted Honeyeater
Mobile or sedentary and sometimes territorial
Many honeyeaters are highly mobile, searching out seasonal nectar sources. Mass-flowering eucalypts are particularly popular with these nomadic honeyeaters (e.g. Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Yellow-tufted Honeyeater, White-naped Honeyeater). Other species are sedentary (e.g. Little Wattlebird, Eastern Spinebill) and some species are strongly territorial (e.g. New Holland Honeyeater, Noisy Miner).
Competing for resources
Several different species of honeyeater often compete for plant resources in the same area, but the larger species tend to win the battles for access to flowers (e.g. Red Wattlebirds and Noisy Miners). However, some smaller species (e.g. Eastern Spinebills) can coexist with the large species because they don't need as much food and can 'sneak' into flowering plants if there is enough foliage cover for them to hide in.
How do gardens contribute?
Because gardeners tend to grow plants with large and long-lasting floral displays, urban areas can provide plenty of food for honeyeaters. However, it is often the large honeyeaters that dominate gardens. This is probably because there is often not enough dense shrubbery in gardens to provide cover for small species
Other birds that eat nectar
Members of the honeyeater family (Meliphagidae) are not the only bird species that feed on nectar. Silvereyes (Family Zosteropidae) and several species of lorikeet (Family Psittacidae) are also prominent nectar-feeders of urban areas.
Other nectar-feeding birds fact sheet list
Reference
Ford, H.A. 1989. Ecology of Birds. Surrey Beatty and Sons Limited, Chipping Norton, NSW