White-naped Honeyeater
Melithreptus lunatus
Small honeyeater with black cap. Underparts white, upperparts light olive. Has white throat with a white band behind the eye. Very similar in appearance to White-throated and Black-chinned Honeyeaters but can easily be distinguished by presence of red skin around the eye. Juveniles have more brown coloration and a yellow bill. Common resident of eucalypt forests.
Identification
A mid-sized honeyeater at 13–15 cm (5–6 in) in length, it is olive-green above and white below, with a black head, nape and throat, a red patch over the eye, and a white crescent-shaped patch on the nape. It is thinner than other similar species. Juveniles have brownish crowns and an orange base of the bill. Its call is a mjerp mjerp.
Taxonomy
The white-naped honeyeater was originally described as Certhia lunata by French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1802. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin luna, meaning 'moon'; this refers to the crescent-shaped, white marking on its nape. It is a member of the genus Melithreptus, with several species of similar size and (apart from the brown-headed honeyeater) black-headed appearance, in the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae. The next closest relative outside the genus is the much larger, but similarly marked, blue-faced honeyeater. More recently, DNA analysis has shown honeyeaters to be related to the Pardalotidae (pardalotes), Acanthizidae (Australian warblers, scrubwrens, thornbills, etc.), and the Maluridae (Australian fairy-wrens) in the large superfamily Meliphagoidea.<p>Gilbert's honeyeater, found in southwest Western Australia, was initially described as a separate species by John Gould in 1844, before being reclassified as a subspecies of the white-naped for many years. However, a molecular study published in 2010 showed that it had diverged before the split of populations in eastern Australia into the white-naped and black-headed honeyeaters.<p>"White-naped honeyeater" has been designated as the official common name for the species by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).
- Scientific name
- Melithreptus lunatus
- Authority
- (Vieillot, 1802)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Meliphagidae
- Genus
- Melithreptus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
It is found in eucalypt forest and woodlands. Its diet is principally nectar from a variety of flowers, supplemented by insects and various other invertebrates.<p>White-naped honeyeaters may nest from July to December, breeding once or twice during this time. The nest is a thick-walled bowl of grasses and bits of bark in the fork of a tall tree, usually a eucalypt. Two or three eggs are laid, 18 mm × 14 mm (0.71 in × 0.55 in) in size, and shiny, buff-pink, sparsely spotted with red-brown.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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