| Yellow-tufted honeyeater | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Meliphagidae |
| Genus: | Lichenostomus |
| Species: | L. melanops |
| Binomial name | |
| Lichenostomus melanops (Latham, 1801) | |
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.
The yellow-tufted honeyeater was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801, and given two different binomial names: Muscicapa auricomis and Turdus melanops. [2] [3] The latter name was retained as a nomen protectum , and the former a nomen oblitum , as the epithet melanops has been used consistently for over a century. It belongs to the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. More recently, DNA analysis has shown honeyeaters to be related to the Pardalotidae, and the 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]
Four races are recognised:
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]
The yellow-tufted honeyeater occurs from south-east Queensland through eastern New South Wales and across Victoria. [12] [8] [13] Its preferred habitats are dry open sclerophyll forests and woodlands dominated by eucalypts with shrubby undergrowth, as well as mallee, 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]
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]
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 takes place between July and March (mostly from September to January), with one or two broods each season. [12] The nest is a cup-shaped structure of dried grasses, bits of bark and other plant material, bound with spider webs and lined with fur and feathers, hung by its rim in dense shrubbery or regrowth. [12] Two or three eggs, each measuring 23 mm × 17 mm (0.91 in × 0.67 in), are laid, pinkish in colour, blotched with pale reddish- or buff-brown. [9] [15] The eggs are incubated mostly by the female for 14-16 days. [11] The nestlings are brooded by the female and fed by both sexes and any helpers, fledging at 13-15 days post-hatch and usually becoming independent by 6 weeks. [12] [11] The nests are parasitized by the fan-tailed cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis), pallid cuckoo (Cacomantis pallidus) and shining bronze-cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus). [11]
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:
Yellingbo is a town in Victoria, Australia, 48 km east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Yellingbo recorded a population of 582 at the 2021 census.
The white-plumed honeyeater is a small passerine bird endemic to Australia. White-plumed honeyeaters are common around water and are often seen in backyards and suburbs with vegetation cover.
The yellow-faced honeyeater is a small to medium-sized bird in the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae. It takes its common and scientific names from the distinctive yellow stripes on the sides of its head. Its loud, clear call often begins twenty or thirty minutes before dawn. It is widespread across eastern and southeastern Australia, in open sclerophyll forests from coastal dunes to high-altitude subalpine areas, and woodlands along creeks and rivers. Comparatively short-billed for a honeyeater, it is thought to have adapted to a diet of flies, spiders, and beetles, as well as nectar and pollen from the flowers of plants, such as Banksia and Grevillea, and soft fruits. It catches insects in flight as well as gleaning them from the foliage of trees and shrubs.
The white-cheeked honeyeater inhabits the east coast and the south-west corner of Australia. It has a large white patch on its cheek, brown eyes, and a yellow panel on its wing.
The brush cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo family.
The white-eared honeyeater is a medium-sized honeyeater found in Australia. It is a member of the family Meliphagidae which has 190 recognised species with about half of them found in Australia. This makes them members of the most diverse family of birds in Australia. White-eared honeyeaters are easily identifiable by their olive-green body, black head and white ear-patch.
The brown honeyeater is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It belongs to the honeyeaters, a group of birds which have highly developed brush-tipped tongues adapted for nectar feeding. Honeyeaters are found mainly in Australia, New Guinea, and parts of Indonesia, but the brown honeyeater is unique in that it also occurs on the island of Bali, making it the only honeyeater to be found west of the Wallace Line, the biogeographical boundary between the Australian-Papuan and Oriental zoogeographical regions.
The helmeted honeyeater is a passerine bird in the honeyeater family. It is a distinctive and critically endangered subspecies of the yellow-tufted honeyeater, that exists in the wild only as a tiny relict population in the Australian state of Victoria, in the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve. It is Victoria's only endemic bird, and was adopted as one of the state's official symbols.
The pallid cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Australia, with some migration to the islands of Timor and Papua New Guinea. It is between 28 and 33 cm in size, with distinctive markings such as a dark bill, a dark eye with a gold eye-ring and olive grey feet which differentiate it from other cuckoos. The pallid cuckoo is similar in appearance to the oriental cuckoo, with barred immature pallid cuckoos being often mistaken for oriental cuckoos.
The scrubtit is a species of bird in the thornbill family Acanthizidae. It is endemic to Tasmania and King Island in Australia. Its natural habitat is the temperate rainforest, Nothofagus beech forest and eucalypt woodland. It is a small species that resembles the Sericornis scrubwrens.
The speckled warbler is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is endemic to eastern Australia. Its natural habitat is temperate forests.
The painted honeyeater is a species of honeyeater in a monotypic genus.
The purple-gaped honeyeater is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to semi-arid southern Australia, where it inhabits mallee, tall heath and associated low eucalypt woodland.
The mangrove honeyeater is a species of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. The species was once considered to be conspecific with the varied honeyeater, but it is now treated as a separate species. These two species form a genus with the singing honeyeater.
The yellow-throated honeyeater is a species of passerine bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. It is similar in behaviour and appearance to the white-eared honeyeater and is endemic to Australia's island state of Tasmania. It was formerly considered a pest of orchards.
The fuscous honeyeater is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to eastern Australia, where it inhabits subtropical and tropical dry forests.
The yellow-plumed honeyeater is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Australia, where it inhabits temperate forests and Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.
The black-chinned honeyeater is a species of passerine bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical dry forests.
Established in 1965, the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is located 45 km east of Melbourne in the Upper Yarra Valley, near the towns of Yellingbo, Launching Place, Yarra Junction, Hoddles Creek, Cockatoo, Emerald, Monbulk and Seville. Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is a narrow riparian reserve with stream-frontage land along the Woori Yallock, Shepherd, Cockatoo, Macclesfield and Sheep Station Creeks.
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