Colours

Distinguishing features

The male has a long thin downcurved black bill with a black head, white throat with a reddish patch and red iris. It has a brownish-red nape, a grey brown back and pale cinnamon underparts. The dark tail is tipped with white laterally. Females and juveniles are smaller and duller. (Wikipedia)

Size

Wingspan

Synonyms

Distribution

Distribution and habitat preferences

They are found in dry sclerophyll forest, scrub and heathland from the Cooktown area in North Queensland south through New South Wales east of the Great Dividing Range, through Victoria and into the Flinders Ranges in eastern South Australia as well as throughout Tasmania.

Adaptable, they can be found in urban gardens with sufficient vegetation to act as cover and a food source. (Wikipedia)

Diet

It feeds on nectar from many plants, including the blooms of gum trees, mistletoes (Amyema), Epacris longiflora, Epacris impressa (common heath), Correa reflexa, and various members of the Proteaceae such as Banksia ericifolia, Banksia integrifolia, Lambertia formosa and Grevillea speciosa, as well as small insects and other invertebrates.

A 1982 study in the New England National Park in North-eastern New South Wales found that there was a large influx of birds coinciding with the start of flowering of Banksia spinulosa there.

They have been known to feed from exotic plants such as fuchsias. (Wikipedia)

Web resources