Fuscous Honeyeater
Ptilotula fusca
Small, plain honeyeater; almost entirely a bland, unmarked, olive-brown with subtle yellow patch on the neck. Adult’s bill is entirely black, whereas juvenile has yellow base to bill plus a yellow eyering. Typically found in dry eucalypt forest; tends to move down from higher altitudes in the winter months. Found in eastern Australia.
Identification
The fuscous honeyeater is dull grey-brown to olive-brown above with buffy-grey underparts. The bill is black and the eye-ring dark. It has a small black and yellow plume formed by the rear edge of the ear coverts.<p>Similar species include grey-fronted honeyeater, yellow-plumed honeyeater and white-plumed honeyeater.<p>They have numerous calls, notably a distinctive rollicking arig arig a taw taw, a clear flutey cheer tor cheer and an incessant chip contact call.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Ptilotula fusca
- Authority
- (Gould, 1837)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Meliphagidae
- Genus
- Ptilotula
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Fuscous honeyeaters live in colonies in dry eucalypt forest and woodland, mostly inland of the Great Dividing Range, but in New South Wales and Queensland also in coastal heathy forest. They are sometimes also found in gardens, and in patches of remnant forest on farms.<p>They are mostly sedentary, though will make some nomadic movements in response to drought and flowering of eucalypts. In the southeast of their range, they make some seasonal altitudinal movements, moving down from higher regions in during colder months.<p>Fuscous honeyeaters are mainly insectivorous, foraging actively mainly in outer and upper foliage, branches and trunks of eucalypts, and taking insects on the wing. They also feed opportunistically on nectar, including from eucalypts and mistletoes, lerp and honeydew.
Conservation
The species is listed under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a species of Least Concern.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Song Thrush
Turdus philomelos
Plumage brown above and whitish below with droplet-shaped dark spots; breast has rich buffy wash in fresh plumage (mainly autumn–winter). Appreciably smaller, darker overall, and more compact than Mistle Thrush. An inhabitant of wooded habitats, including parks, gardens, and farmland with hedges and taller trees; often feeds on lawns and grassy verges, but usually near cover. Strident song, often heard in suburban neighborhoods, is more prolonged than that of Eurasian Blackbird, and frequently repeats phrases 2-4 times. A native of Eurasia, introduced to southeastern Australia, New Zealand, and a few surrounding islands.
Cocos Tyrannulet
Nesotriccus ridgwayi
Small and drab flycatcher found only on Cocos Island, which is located in the Pacific Ocean about 300 miles southwest of mainland Costa Rica. Most birds are brown above with a buffy belly, with tan wingbars and a pale eyebrow. Some individuals have a brighter yellow belly or an olive-tinged back. Inhabits humid forest as well as scrubby and swampy areas, often in dense vegetation. Typical song is a short, descending sputter.
Taiga Bean-Goose
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Rather large, dark gray-brown goose with variable orange patch on bill (often extensively orange, unlike typical Tundra Bean Goose) and orange legs. In flight lacks contrasting pale forewing areas of Pink-footed Goose and Graylag Goose. Not always safely told in the field from Tundra Bean-Goose, but Taiga averages a longer, more sloping bill, versus the shorter and thicker bill of Tundra. Breeds in taiga and winters in farmland and wetlands, where it associates readily with other geese.
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