Honeyeater? Jervis Bay

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davethewonder
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Honeyeater? Jervis Bay

Bird in Jervis Bay. Think it is some sort of honeyeater. I'm guessing Yellow-Tufted Honeyeater (Helmeted Honeyeater) but not sure.  Sorry for the poor quality image. Any ideas?  Cheers 

Araminta
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You might be right by thinking Yellow-tufted Honeyeater, but I'm not certain, let's wait what others think.

But I'm certain that it is not a Helmeted Honeyeater. I live next to the one place where you can find very few of them, and was very fortunate to have seen one in my area some years ago, only once and not since.

Historically, Helmeted Honeyeaters were patchily distributed in the mid-Yarra and Western Port catchments of central southern Victoria, in the South Eastern Highlands IBRA bioregion. Their range and population declined steadily through the 20th century, with the population reaching a low of 15 breeding pairs and about 50 individuals in late 1989, the year a recovery program began. Former colonies at Cockatoo and Upper Beaconsfield had become extinct not long before as a consequence of the Ash Wednesday bushfires of February 1983. Following the implementation of the recovery program the population increased to a peak of about 120 individuals in 1996, but has since declined to about 20 wild breeding pairs.[7] The wild population of the Helmeted Honeyeater is now restricted to a five km length of remnant bushland along two streams in the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve near Yellingbo, about 50 km east of central Melbourne, with a small colony of birds bred in captivity established near Tonimbuk in the Bunyip State Park within the historic range of the subspecies.

I hope someone can tell us what bird it is?

M-L

pacman
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My sighting of Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters was at Wallangara, Qld-NSW border

It is not a good pic but I have uploaded for comparison

The yellow throat and black mask is clear in your pic 1 and the yellow crown and black mask is clear in your pic 2

I believe that the Yellow-tufted Honeyeater is the only HE that meets these criteria

Peter

Araminta
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Thanks for the confirmation Peteryes

M-L

ihewman
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Wait... I wouldn't ignore this sighting... I don't think it is a Yellow-tufted HE as the bird in your photos lack the yellow ear tufts (from which it gets its name) and a faded black chin stripe. Also, YT Honeyeater has a yellow tint on its whole belly, instead of just its throat. Check Mangrove and Singing HE... Both of these don't occur in Jervis Bay, but it is certainly not impossible for some to be outside their range. For example, we had Marbled Frogmouth at Bulburin NP which is at least 100km from its usual range. Your bird would most likely to be a Mangrove HE as just the throat is yellow and has a brown streaked belly.

ihewman

Brandon (aka ihewman)

davethewonder
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Hi. Thanks for the reply

I had a look at some images of the Mangrove Honeyeater and Singing Honeyeater on google and they look a little more alike. I have seen yellow-tufted honeyeater before and it seemed a little different - hence why I was unsure in the first place (despite the poor quality images)

I have attached a photo of the Mangrove Honeyeater I found on google which looks fairly alike the photos I have - the attached photo is for comparison only. It is by Geoff Walker (c) 2008 and the origingal can be found at http://bushpea.com/bd/pg/all/m/mangrove%20honeyeater%2007.html 

I wonder if we could get a confirmation - if so, is this far outside its usual range?

 

Dave, Sydney. 

ihewman
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The Mangrove HE's range extends about half way down the NSW coast... I have an old field guide so perhaps its range has been updated in recent years.

ihewman

Brandon (aka ihewman)

pacman
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pacman wrote:

The yellow throat and black mask is clear in your pic 1 and the yellow crown and black mask is clear in your pic 2

I believe that the Yellow-tufted Honeyeater is the only HE that meets these criteria

good discussion, are you saying that the yellow crown is not present in pic 2?

Mangrove HE - Slater 2nd ed 2009 says south to Iluka, NSW; Pizzey & Knight 9th ed 2012 says s to c. Iluka

Whereis.com says 868 klms from Iluka to Jervis Bay; that's by road, in a straight line it might be 800 klms

that is very much 'out of range'

also, was the bird in or close to mangroves?

I have had a number of Mangrove HE sightings and the neck colouring of the pic seems to differ from those sightings

Peter

davethewonder
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Yeh very interesting.

It seems a long way from home if it isn't a Yellow-Tufted H/E. As for the yellow crown, it could possibly be a yellowish/green leaf behind the head that is confusing things in picture #2, again sorry for the poor images. I think the thing that throws me off most is the missing tuft. Every image I've found, including the one in this post, shows the tuft fairly. Could it possibly be a juvenile? 

As for the habbitat, the bird was right next to the coast (literally no more than 20m from the beach) however it was in Eucalyptus woodland with some nearby dense coastal scrub, not in the mangroves. In fact there are very few mangrove trees at all in this area of Jervis Bay. A further mystery.

I'm glad I posted in this forum because I still have no idea. Thanks for the discussion everyone. I'll leave it up to you guys.  

Thanks for the help

 

Dave, Sydney. 

ihewman
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I will definitely go with Mangrove Honeyeater... Mangrove HE doesn't always live in mangroves... they can be found in a lot of habitats along the coast, I have even had them in the Bundaberg CBD. I would find that it is more possible for a bird that is restricted to a coastal habitat to easily move along the coast rather than an inland bird extending its range towards the coast. Your bird is definitely not a Yellow-tufted HE. That is why I am certain that your bird is a Mangrove HE.

ihewman

Brandon (aka ihewman)

ihewman
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Even a juvenile YT Honeyeater shows an obvious ear tuft...

Brandon (aka ihewman)

pacman
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ihewman wrote:

I will definitely go with Mangrove Honeyeater... Mangrove HE doesn't always live in mangroves... they can be found in a lot of habitats along the coast, I have even had them in the Bundaberg CBD. I would find that it is more possible for a bird that is restricted to a coastal habitat to easily move along the coast rather than an inland bird extending its range towards the coast. Your bird is definitely not a Yellow-tufted HE. That is why I am certain that your bird is a Mangrove HE.

ihewman

the mangrove-lined Burnett River is 1 street away from the Bundaberg CBD - I suggest that is close to mangroves

Dave if you have been convinced by ihewman's position I suggest that you report the sighting to Birdline - Eremaea http://www.eremaea.com/BirdlineRecentSightings.aspx?Birdline=2  - 

Peter

SteveM
SteveM's picture

I'm very doubtful of Mangrove Honeyeater, they generally have a noticably dark upper breast, whereas this bird appears to be quite pale on the breast.  I'm leaning towards Singing Honeyeater, although they normally have less yellow in the chin throat area, it's not unusual for Honeyeaters to get parts of their face covered in yellow pollen. Unfortunatley it's difficult to be sure from those photos and with the low image quality & head angles, I can't confidently rule out Yellow-tufted HE.

darinnightowl
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hi Dave what part of the bay did you see the bird, there are a few spots there , were mangrove grow. I have seen a few YTH in the bay as well. my first look at the bird is a singing Honeyeater but it's a hard one . 

See it!  Hear it!

Mid-North Coast NSW

davethewonder
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Hi all. 

Have contacted Eremaea and they have reviewed the photos. 

They were very nice and helpful and this is what they had to say

"I had a separate discussion with three further experts. All four of us came to the same conclusion: The refraction of light off sunlit mahogany leaves would make the throat look yellower than it actually is. The very light belly and the lack of upper-breast barring speak against Mangrove HE. Overall colouration, streaked pale belly, absence of tufts and the darkish central throat streak and jizz don't fit Yellow-tufted HE. There have been a number of coastal sightings of Singing Honeyeater recently."

So there it is "Singing Honeyeater" officially. According to the field guides, out of range/unusual on the south coast, but as you heard, recently there have been some coastal sightings, so that accounts for that. 

Thanks everyone for contributing to this discussion! Very good to know that I can come here again with questions. I have a few more barely passable photos I may post to confuse everyone again :)  

 

Dave, Sydney. 

davethewonder
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Just for interest, the sighting of "Singing Honeyeater" has been posted on Eremaea for Friday the 29th of March

http://www.eremaea.com/BirdlineRecentSightings.aspx?Birdline=2

Cheers

Dave

Dave, Sydney. 

pacman
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davethewonder wrote:

I have a few more barely passable photos I may post to confuse everyone again :)  

 

gee, thanks

good clear pics would be more appreciated

Peter

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