MELBOURNE'S COMMONER HONEYEATERS

Melbourne is home to a wide variety of birdlife. Among these are honeyeaters. Honeyeaters are a group of birds found mostly in Australasia, with a few species in parts of Indonesia and several in the Pacific's many islands, however most species are found in Australia. They generally feed on nectar, and make up the family Meliphagidae. There are many different honeyeaters in the Melbourne area, this is a list of some I have seen, including photos from previous posts.

LITTLE WATTLEBIRD Anthochaera chrysoptera

RED WATTLEBIRD Anthochaera carunculata

The genus Anthochaera contains the wattlebirds. 2 species of wattlebird live in the Melbourne area, both are very common and can be found in gardens, dry woodland and grassland. These are the little wattlebird and the red wattlebird.

SPINY-CHEEKED HONEYEATER Acanthagenys rufogularis

The genus Acanthagenys contains only one species, the spiny-cheeked honeyeater. Though uncommon in the Melbourne area this bird can be found in heathlands and saltmarsh, especially along the Mornington Peninsula. It can also be found in dry woodland in other parts of Victoria, but in Melbourne it is best seen in these coastal areas.

NOISY MINER Manorina melanocephala

BELL MINER Manorina melanophrys

The genus Manorina contains the miners. 2 species of miner live in the Melbourne area. The first, the noisy miner, is extremely common in dry woodland and grassland. The second, the bell miner, is also fairly common in dry woodland, but it forms small colonies in certain areas: examples include the Melbourne Zoo's carpark, and Merri Creek Park in Northcote. Both may visit gardens.

LEWIN'S HONEYEATER Meliphaga lewinii

The genus Meliphaga contains 4 species of honeyeater, 1 of which lives in the Melbourne area. This is the Lewin's honeyeater. It prefers riverine woodland and temperate rainforest. It is supposedly moderately common in the Melbourne area, but I have only seen it once there, in the forest around Healesville Sanctuary.

SINGING HONEYEATER Lichenostomus virescens

WHITE-PLUMED HONEYEATER Lichenostomus penicillatus

YELLOW-TUFTED HONEYEATER Lichenostomus melanops

The genus Lichenostomus contains many species of honeyeater, 5 of which (to my knowledge, there are probably more species I have missed) are regularly sighted in the Melbourne area. These are the yellow-faced honeyeater, singing honeyeater, white-eared honeyeater, yellow-tufted honeyeater and white-plumed honeyeater. Most of these birds can be found in dry woodland, though the white-eared honeyeater is known to prefer wetter forests. The white-plumed honeyeater can be found pretty much throughout the Melbourne area. The yellow-tufted honeyeater, on the other hand, is only found in a few select areas of mallee, though its endangered subspecies the helmeted honeyeater inhabits wetter forests near Melbourne.
The genus Melithrepus contains only a few species of honeyeater, 2 of which (again to my knowledge) can be seen regularly in Melbourne and surrounds. These are the brown-headed honeyeater and white-naped honeyeater. The brown-headed is a bird of dry woodland, seen in places like Long Forest Conservation Reserve and the Cranbourne Botanic Gardens. The white-naped, on the other hand, prefers wetter forests. I have not had the experience of seeing either.

NEW HOLLAND HONEYEATER Philidonyris novaehollandiae

The genus Philidonyris again only contains a few species of honeyeater, only 2 of which inhabit the Melbourne area. These are the abundant New Holland honeyeater (seen pretty much everywhere from heathland to dry forest, including my garden) and the crescent honeyeater (a lot less common, it prefers wet forests and is a specialty of the Otways NP).

EASTERN SPINEBILL Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris

The genus Acanthorhynchus contains the 2 spinebills, of which only one inhabits Melbourne's forests, both wet and dry. This is the eastern spinebill, a locally common honeyeater in good forests, which I first saw in the Grampians area but have seen around Melbourne Zoo as well.

WHITE-FRONTED CHAT Epthianura albifrons

The genus Epthianura contains the 4 Australian chats, which are actually honeyeaters and not related to the chats of most of the Old World. Only one can be seen in Melbourne, and this is the white-fronted chat. It prefers saltmarsh and similar habitat near the sea, and is a regular sight at the Western Treatment Plant.
Those are the common honeyeaters of the Melbourne area.

CAIRNS TRIP: DAY THREE

DAY THREE
I woke up at about 5:45, got ready and then birded Cassowary Lodge and surrounds. At first I didn't see much apart from Australian brush turkeys and orange-billed scrubfowl due to the fact every bird was up in the canopy trying to broadcast its voice over as large an area as it could get. However this all changed at around 8 am when breakfast was served by our great hosts, Sue and Phil. I walked to the breakfast area and immediately was stunned. There, right in front of me, was a lifer, a beautiful male Victoria's riflebird with an entourage of females and immature males following him. Sue invited me up for breakfast, near to the feeders. The birds were amazing. Victoria's riflebirds were jumping forward, almost in reach of my hand, snapping up fruit and cheese. In a small flowering tree behind them a yellow-spotted honeyeater was slowly drinking some nectar. On the ground was a single emerald dove, several musky rat-kangaroos and many Australian brush turkeys. As breakfast went on more birds joined the table: horn-billed friarbirds, and finally several spotted catbirds. The riflebirds and catbirds were species I would have had to go through quite a bit of trouble to see normally, and here they were dancing around in front of my face!

The male Victoria's riflebird perches, waiting for his feed

He nears his breakfast, ready for a bite

He flies straight in and snaps it up hungrily

These cute little musky rat-kangaroos are one of the most primitive marsupials still alive

The female/young male Victoria's riflebird also has her/his own beauty

Normally shy, spotted catbirds will do anything for cheese

A black butcherbird scares some of the smaller birds away as he takes his turn eating

After this Phil recommended walking along Black Mountain Road and along the driveway to us, and we tried this out. At first we saw little but we soon stumbled into a small flock of Macleay's honeyeaters, along with a single little shrike-thrush. On our return I spotted an extremely obliging pale yellow-robin who allowed three photos before flying off. Unfortunately after that it was time to head back to Cairns. I didn't see anything of note in Cairns and will thus end the post here with some pictures of the aforementioned birds.

A shy and rather fast little shrike-thrush was met right outside the driveway

These Macleay's honeyeaters were extremely common on our short walk

Pale yellow-robins look much prettier than their southern cousin to me

CAIRNS TRIP: DAY TWO

DAY TWO
I woke up at about 6:30 and immediately heard the dawn chorus. I got out to see several fuscous honeyeaters and lifer brown-backed honeyeaters singing. I could hear the noise of a bird being mobbed so I looked and saw several apostlebirds calling at a lifer Pacific baza. The apostlebirds flew off before I could photograph them but the sparrowhawk remained in place for about half an hour before Kevin, our guide again for the early morning walk, arrived in his safari jeep to take us through the park.

The Pacific baza sits in a tree, watching the ground below him

This brown-backed honeyeater was calling for about an hour

From there Kevin took us to a small farm with a garden filled with flowering plants, as well as a feeder. Kevin told us it would be a hotspot for birds and he was correct. A large eucalypt overlooking the feeder held silver-crowned friarbirds, helmeted friarbirds and red-winged parrots, as well as a single lifer Gould's bronze-cuckoo. In some bamboo a lifer yellow honeyeater was hiding. A spangled drongo perched on a wire, hawking insects. A flowering shrub was being used as cover by double-barred finches and chestnut-breasted mannikins, who were also visiting the feeder along with many of the aforementioned species. Peaceful doves and bar-shouldered doves were walking on the lawn. Finally, a brown honeyeater was drinking nectar from some flowers. All in all it was a great site that we would never have found without Kevin's help.

The yellow honeyeater, a specialty of Queensland's woodlands

Red-shouldered parrots, common but amazing birds

Gould's bronze-cuckoo was once considered a subspecies of the little bronze-cuckoo

Similarly the horn-billed friarbird was once a subspecies of the helmeted friarbird

Spangled drongos are known for bullying smaller birds

As we drove on we saw many eastern grey kangaroos and agile wallabies, watching our jeep with curiosity. Some bounded off, some stood and watched us as we passed.

An eastern grey kangaroo reaches out for some grass

An agile wallaby stares at our jeep, checking us out

We continued onwards into a patch of woodlands. Here we saw both species of kookaburra together: laughing kookaburra and my lifer blue-winged kookaburra. Kevin explained that the species didn't get along well, as kookaburras were highly territorial and would kill any kookaburra that flew into their territory and wasn't from their family group.

 This blue-winged kookaburra would viciously murder any others in sight

Eventually we had to head back to our tent. We quickly packed our things as we had to drop off my sister and my mother in Cairns before driving back to Kuranda. We all arrived in Cairns and ate lunch at an Italian restaurant. While I was waiting for my food my father asked me to come with him to the Esplanade. I followed and he showed me a vast flock of terns and waders that had been forced towards the shore by the high tide. I spotted a variety of species among the flock. There were around 3 bar-tailed godwits, 2 grey-tailed tattlers and 6-7 whimbrels, but most of the flock was made up of curlew sandpipers, a few lifer great knots  and sharp-tailed sandpipers. There was at least one red or greater knot in the flock as well  3 Caspian terns were furthest away, but the bulk of the terns were common terns and greater crested terns. To add to this all a varied honeyeater was calling from a nearby tree!

Two Caspian terns stand next to each other

A group of several whimbrels standing near the mud

A common tern drinking water from a stream

A group of sandpipers: here you can see curlew sandpipers, great knots, grey-tailed tattlers, etc.

A caspian tern calls at another, with a common tern in the foreground

I watched the flock before I ate my lunch and had to leave for Kuranda and Cassowary Lodge, a mere 25 minute drive from Cairns. Due to the time of day I didn't see much, and though I did do a walk around Kuranda I mostly heard birds instead of seeing them, though I did get decent views of two spotted catbirds in foliage.

CAIRNS TRIP: DAY ONE

My family and I recently visited northern Queensland, specifically the area around Cairns, for a 5-day long trip. I will be blogging about the birds seen, as it was a very successful birding trip, with 13 lifers seen, as well as great views of some species I hadn't seen very well (eg. little shrike-thrush).
DAY ONE

A caspian tern, greater crested tern and common tern amidst a small flock

The first day in Cairns began uneventfully, but ended spectacularly. Since our Cairns accommodation was on the Esplanade, my mother and I walked down along the mudflats. It was low tide and not much was visible at first, but we soon picked up 3 bar-tailed godwits that had decided it wasn't worth migrating back to Siberia. Silvergulls, black-fronted dotterels and masked lapwings were, as always, common. A large flock of gulls and Australian pelicans was part-way down the Esplanade, however when I looked at this flock closely I noticed a Caspian tern, 2 greater crested terns and, best of all, my lifer common tern sitting slightly behind the flock. On the way back I also spotted a rather tame peaceful dove.

This peaceful dove was living up to its name and providing great views

After our walk we checked out of the hotel we were staying in (the Rydges) and began the long drive to Mareeba, where we would be spending the next night. Most of the drive was uneventful apart from lots of black kites overhead (I counted 26!), but as we neared Mareeba the car was suddenly stopped by my father, the driver, who pointed across the road to a flock of red-tailed cockatoos. They were feeding in a eucalypt, and were happy to allow some photos.

Two red-tailed black cockatoos feeding, the male showing off how he got his name

From there the road was fairly good for birds, I spotted several double-barred finches, as well as many forest kingfishers and laughing kookaburras perched on wires looking for lunch. There was also a brown falcon sitting high in a tree.
We arrived at Mareeba Safari Lodge soon after seeing the falcon. Almost immediately we went to the Visitor Center, which looks out over Clancy's Lagoon, a wetland, and had some lunch. On the way to the centre I saw two birds I couldn't identify (see next post for pictures). At the centre I saw a variety of birds. Feeders behind the centre were being visited by double-barred finches and chestnut-breasted mannikins, with a brown honeyeater feeding in the flowering plant near the feeder. Under the feeder were 3 peaceful doves eating seeds that had fallen on the ground. Two immature magpie geese frolicked in the water right in front of the visitor center, and further out were many green pygmy-geese and black swans. I could just make out a comb-crested jacana running on lotus lilies further out. An Australasian darter was drying its wings as it perched on a tree stump out from the centre. Several fan-tailed cuckoos (lifers!) were hiding in the forest around the centre. Finally, lifer white-throated needletails and welcome swallows and two rainbow bee-eaters were snatching insects from above the water.

A group of double-barred finches getting lunch at the feeder

A lone chestnut-breasted mannikin joining the finches at the feeder

One of the two magpie-geese that were in front of the center

Two male green pygmy-geese, much more beautiful than their rarer cousin

The beautiful fan-tailed cuckoo sitting in forest behind the visitor center

After having our delicious lunch, we did a short walk while waiting for our boat ride on the lagoon, but didn't see much, only getting better views of the aforementioned darter, and picking up more fan-tailed cuckoos, as well as a single lifer northern fantail that darted away before I could photograph it. Soon our tent was opened to us, and we spent the next 30 minutes enjoying the beautiful accommodation, and eating a few snacks. Then we had to walk to the centre for our boat ride.
The boat ride was great. Our guide, Kevin, was extremely informative and showed us both the flora and fauna of the lagoon. At the start Kevin immediately showed us some red-tailed black cockatoos far off in some trees, then told us about some of the many lilies of the lagoon: the Pac-Man lily which is shaped like the character, the Snowflake lily which has white flowers, and the Lotus. Among these lilies were many green pygmy-geese and a few Australian grebes, as well as a comb-crested jacana running across them. On the open water were about 12 black swans. Leafless trees on a small island held both little pied cormorants and little black cormorants. Finally, various egrets were flying over, and a lone jabiru was feeding on the bank of the lagoon.

A comb-crested jacana walking on dead lotus lilies

A female jabiru, Australia's only species of stork

On our way back to the terminal one of the other passengers of the boat spotted a pygmy-goose that looked slightly different. After about 6 minutes trying to find the bird, it was spotted, and all agreed it had to be a cotton pygmy-goose, a species I had tried for both in Australia and in Sri Lanka. An amazing lifer, though much drabber looking than its green cousin.

It may stand out here, but that cotton pygmy-goose was pretty hard to see from the boat

As soon as we returned we all boarded a safari jeep, with Kevin as the driver. As we went along we initially didn't see much, apart from one rainbow bee-eater shining brightly in the sun.

The true beauty of the rainbow bee-eater is really brought out by the sunlight

As we reached the second lagoon, Pandanus Lagoon, it started to rain, this slowed things but we still managed to see double-barred finches in shrubs nearby, a rainbow bee-eater looking for bugs, an unidentified honeyeater calling in the treetops, many Australian pelicans, many green pygmy-geese, a few straw-necked ibis and some egrets. After the lagoon we went on through some woodland but didn't really see too much until we reached some flowering trees, there were many blue-faced honeyeaters, lifer horn-billed friarbirds, lifer silver-crowned friarbirds and rainbow lorikeets going for the nectar in these trees. Two black kites were also perched on a nearby eucalypt. We were going to continue along a dam wall, but there was a large pond stopping us that had formed in the rain. However we did see a white-necked heron perched on a post near this pond.

Black kites were extremely common in the area

Even further on we saw more double-barred finches. Finally, the passenger who had spotted the cotton pygmy-goose saw some movement in a tree. Kevin immediately identified it as a pheasant coucal, hidden behind some large leaves. It took a while for it to come out a little, but it was still extremely hard to spot and took me several minutes to get my eyes on.

Can you spot the pheasant coucal? 

We eventually headed back along the trail and to the centre. I had a great dinner, then slept in the tent. I slept well, apart from the fact I woke up at 1 am and was awake for about 5 minutes, during this time I heard a southern boobook calling.