From Opus

Photo by Neil Fifer

Melithreptus lunatus

Includes Swan River Honeyeater

[edit] Identification

Olive-green above, black cap, white band across the back of the neck, bright orange crescent above the eye, grey brown flanks and sides of the breast, white underparts, short, slender bill. Young birds lack the black cap and the white nape is duller or absent.

[edit] Distribution

Eastern and south-eastern mainland Australia, from northern Queensland to eastern South Australia, with a race in South-Western Australia.

[edit] Taxonomy

Melithreptus lunatus has two subspecies:^[1]

• M. l. lunatus

• Eastern Australia

• M. l. chloropsis

• South-western Western Australia
• Split by Gill and Donsker (2010)^[2] as Swan River Honeyeater M. chloropsis.

[edit] Habitat

Open forests and woodlands, mainly in the temperate zone, and urban gardens.

[edit] Behaviour

The diet includes nectar and insects, honeydew and manna.

The female builds a small open cup nest out of grass, bark and spider web, high up in a tree or sapling and she incubates the eggs. At least two broods are raised in a season. The nests can be parasitised by the Fan-tailed Cuckoo and Pallid Cuckoo.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2010. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.7). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.

• List of references

[edit] External Links

• View more images of this species on the ABID