Yellow-plumed honeyeater | |
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Scientific classification
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Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Meliphagidae |
Genus: | Ptilotula |
Species: | P. ornata
|
Binomial name | |
Ptilotula ornata (
Gould, 1838)
| |
Synonyms | |
Lichenostomus ornatus |
The yellow-plumed honeyeater (Ptilotula ornata) 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 yellow-plumed honeyeater was previously placed in the genus Lichenostomus, but was moved to Ptilotula after a molecular phylogenetic analysis, published in 2011, showed that the original genus was polyphyletic. [2] [3]
The yellow-plumed honeyeater is a medium-sized honeyeater with a relatively long, down-curved black bill, a dark face and a distinctive, upswept yellow neck plume. [4] It has an olive-green head, with a faint yellow line under the dark eye, grey-green upperparts, and heavily streaked grey-brown underparts. [4] Young birds have a yellow bill base and eye-ring. [4]
Similar species include purple-gaped honeyeater, [5] grey-fronted honeyeater [4] and fuscous honeyeater. [5] [4]
The song is a loud, clear, three-note chier wit chier, often performed before dawn, and by males during display flight. [6]
The yellow-plumed honeyeater is endemic to southern mainland Australia, from western New South Wales and Victoria, through South Australia to south-west Western Australia. [4]
The main habitat type for yellow-plumed honeyeater is mallee. [5] They occupy a broader range of habitat in the west of their range, including dry eucalypt woodland and eucalypt open-forest. [6] They occasionally occur outside their usual habitat, such as in Acacia and Callitris woodland, [6] and seasonally in flowering red ironbark forest, flowering grey box- yellow box woodland. [5]
They occur in sedentary, colonial groups, which may relocate in response to harsh conditions. [6] They are noisy and conspicuous, and will jointly defend nesting or feeding territories, by engaging in communal wing quivering displays. [6]
Yellow-plumed honeyeaters are mainly insectivorous, foraging actively mainly in outer and upper foliage, branches and trunks of eucalypts, and taking insects on the wing by hawking. [5] They also feed opportunistically on nectar, [6] including from various mallee eucalypts, yellow gum, grey box, red ironbark, and box mistletoe. [5]
Yellow-plumed honeyeaters build an open, cup-shaped nest suspended by the rim from foliage or from a thin fork of mallee eucalypts and other small shrubs. [4] Nests are made from wool, green grass and spider webs, and lined with wool, grasses, plant-down and brightly-coloured feathers. [4] Both parents feed the young, sometimes with the assistance of helpers. [4]
Yellow-plumed honeyeater nests are parasitised by fan-tailed cuckoos, pallid cuckoos, Horsfield's bronze-cuckoos and shining bronze-cuckoos. [4]
The species is listed under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a species of Least Concern. [1]
The yellow-plumed honeyeater occurs in several protected areas, including:
Yellow-plumed honeyeater | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Scientific classification
![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Meliphagidae |
Genus: | Ptilotula |
Species: | P. ornata
|
Binomial name | |
Ptilotula ornata (
Gould, 1838)
| |
Synonyms | |
Lichenostomus ornatus |
The yellow-plumed honeyeater (Ptilotula ornata) 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 yellow-plumed honeyeater was previously placed in the genus Lichenostomus, but was moved to Ptilotula after a molecular phylogenetic analysis, published in 2011, showed that the original genus was polyphyletic. [2] [3]
The yellow-plumed honeyeater is a medium-sized honeyeater with a relatively long, down-curved black bill, a dark face and a distinctive, upswept yellow neck plume. [4] It has an olive-green head, with a faint yellow line under the dark eye, grey-green upperparts, and heavily streaked grey-brown underparts. [4] Young birds have a yellow bill base and eye-ring. [4]
Similar species include purple-gaped honeyeater, [5] grey-fronted honeyeater [4] and fuscous honeyeater. [5] [4]
The song is a loud, clear, three-note chier wit chier, often performed before dawn, and by males during display flight. [6]
The yellow-plumed honeyeater is endemic to southern mainland Australia, from western New South Wales and Victoria, through South Australia to south-west Western Australia. [4]
The main habitat type for yellow-plumed honeyeater is mallee. [5] They occupy a broader range of habitat in the west of their range, including dry eucalypt woodland and eucalypt open-forest. [6] They occasionally occur outside their usual habitat, such as in Acacia and Callitris woodland, [6] and seasonally in flowering red ironbark forest, flowering grey box- yellow box woodland. [5]
They occur in sedentary, colonial groups, which may relocate in response to harsh conditions. [6] They are noisy and conspicuous, and will jointly defend nesting or feeding territories, by engaging in communal wing quivering displays. [6]
Yellow-plumed honeyeaters are mainly insectivorous, foraging actively mainly in outer and upper foliage, branches and trunks of eucalypts, and taking insects on the wing by hawking. [5] They also feed opportunistically on nectar, [6] including from various mallee eucalypts, yellow gum, grey box, red ironbark, and box mistletoe. [5]
Yellow-plumed honeyeaters build an open, cup-shaped nest suspended by the rim from foliage or from a thin fork of mallee eucalypts and other small shrubs. [4] Nests are made from wool, green grass and spider webs, and lined with wool, grasses, plant-down and brightly-coloured feathers. [4] Both parents feed the young, sometimes with the assistance of helpers. [4]
Yellow-plumed honeyeater nests are parasitised by fan-tailed cuckoos, pallid cuckoos, Horsfield's bronze-cuckoos and shining bronze-cuckoos. [4]
The species is listed under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a species of Least Concern. [1]
The yellow-plumed honeyeater occurs in several protected areas, including: