White-cheeked Honeyeater
Phylidonyris niger
Distinctive honeyeater with clear, large, white cheek patches. Underparts white with black streaking. Back, wings, and head black with yellow panels on tail and wings. Distinguished from similar New Holland Honeyeater by presence of one large white patch on side of face rather than two smaller ones. Endemic to eastern and southwestern Australia; usually found in habitats where heath is present.
Identification
The white-cheeked honeyeater is a medium-sized black and white honeyeater, with a long, sturdy bill that curves downwards. It has large bright-yellow tail and wing panels, with a large conspicuous white cheek-patch on a mainly black head. The eye is dark brown and it has a long, tapering, white brow-line. Young birds have a yellow gape and brow and the plumage is dusky or dull brownish. It is gregarious, active and noisy with swift, erratic flight.It is 16–20 cm (6.3–7.9 in) in length; males weigh 15.5–25 g (0.55–0.88 oz) and females 15.5–20 g (0.55–0.71 oz).<p>The vocalizations include a distinctive yapping call "chwikup, chwikup"; a melodious "chippy-choo, chippy-choo" and a higher, repeated lilting "twee-ee-twee-ee" call given in display song-flight during the breeding season.<p>The New Holland honeyeater, Phylidonyris novaehollandiae, is very similar in size, shape and appearance, but can be distinguished by its white eye. Other black and white honeyeaters are much smaller, including the crescent (P. pyrrhoptera), tawny-crowned (Gliciphila melanops) and white-fronted honeyeaters (Purnella albifrons). Although very similar in appearance, there is not much competition between white-cheeked and New Holland honeyeaters, as they choose different perching sites and have different nesting seasons.
Taxonomy
The white-cheeked honeyeater was formally described by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1811. He placed it with the tree creepers in the genus Certhia and coined the binomial name Certhia nigra. His account was based on "L'Héorotaire noir" that had been described and illustrated in 1802 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. Bechstein specified the type locality as "Neuholland", now Sydney, New South Wales. The white-cheeked honeyeater is now one of three species placed in the genus Phylidonyris that was introduced in 1830 by René Lesson. The generic name Phylidonyris combines the term Phylédon or Philédon, used by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1817 for the friarbirds (now placed in the genus Philemon), with Cinnyris (Cuvier, 1816) for the sunbirds; the specific epithet derives from Latin niger 'black'.<p>Two subspecies are recognised: Phylidonyris niger niger in eastern Australia; and P. n. gouldii (Schlegel, 1872) in southwest Western Australia. The latter subspecies has a narrower white cheek-patch, slightly more black on the breast, and different vocalizations, which in future may lead to its classification as a separate species.
- Scientific name
- Phylidonyris niger
- Authority
- (Bechstein, 1811)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Meliphagidae
- Genus
- Phylidonyris
Range and habitat
The white-cheeked honeyeater is endemic to eastern and south-western Australia. It ranges from east of the Great Divide in Queensland through coastal New South Wales, becoming scattered south to Jervis Bay. It also occurs in south-western Western Australia and from Israelite Bay, east of Esperance, to the Murchison River in Kalbarri National Park.<p>It is usually found in moist heathlands, as well as around paperbark swamps and wetlands, and in forests or woodlands with a heath understory. Occurring in both temperate and subtropical zones, it is found in parks, gardens and flowering street trees throughout their range. Not afraid of humans and adapting easily to settlement activity, it is sometimes killed by cats.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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