Tawny-crowned Honeyeater

One pair of Tawny-crowned Honeayeaters continued to feed their nestlings despite being surrounded by shellfire at an artillery range.

Identification

The Tawny-crowned Honeyeater is pale brown above fading to white below, with a whitish throat and bib. Its tawny crown is separated from a black face by a white line from beak, over the eye and curving down behind the ear. The black facial feathers curve down to a black "wishbone" either side of bib. It has a slender curved black bill. The juvenile's crown is browner with white streaks, with no white line, the face is brown and "wishbone" pattern is less pronounced and streaky. Its throat is yellow.

Habitat

These birds mostly live in coastal heathlands in the temperate zones in southern Australia, but can extend into the sand plains with suitable vegetation.

Distribution

Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters are mainly coastal birds from just south of the NSW-QLD border to the western edge of the Eyre Peninsula in SA, extending inland across much of Victoria and south-eastern SA. They are coastal around Tasmania and occupy south-western WA.

Feeding and diet

The main food sources for Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters are nectar and insects.

Communication

A liquid, fluty, mournful call.

Breeding Behaviour/s

The birds construct a deep cup of bark, grass, rootlets, leaves and spider web in a dense live shrub, or occasionally tussock grass. The female incubates but both feed the young birds.

Breeding Season: mostly July to December, but sometimes as late as April if a second clutch is successful.

Seasonality

The Tawny-crowned Honeyeater is mostly sedentary.

Economic/social impacts

Habitat clearance has led to the decline of the range and abundance of this species.