Eastern Spinebill
Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris
A small bird with a long curved bill. Adults have an obvious dark cap (black on males and gray on females) and mask with dark marks down the side of the chest. Note the white corners to the fanned tail that can be obvious in flight. Young birds are plain buff-colored underneath and plain brown above. Young birds could be confused with female Scarlet Myzomela (Scarlet Honeyeater), but note longer bill of spinebill. Eastern Spinebills are active and fast, darting around quickly between flowering trees in wetter forested areas as well as parks and gardens. Voice is a loud repetitive piping whistle.
Identification
The male eastern spinebill is 13–16 cm (5–6.5 in) long, and has a long thin downcurved black bill with a black head, white throat with a chestnut 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 are smaller with olive-grey crown, similar in colouring to male but slightly duller; and juveniles are pale warm cinnamon below with grey to olive-brown upperparts, a brown-red eye and orange base to the bill. The call is a clear, high-pitched, staccato piping "chip-chip-chip", sometimes repeated for lengthy periods.
Taxonomy
Originally described as Certhia tenuirostris by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801, it is a member of the small genus Acanthorhynchus with one other, the western spinebill of Western Australia. The generic name is derived from the Greek translation of spinebill, namely acantho-/ακανθο- 'spine' and rhynchos/ρυνχος 'bill'. Its specific epithet is from Latin tenuis 'narrow' and rostrum 'bill'. Other English names include spine-billed honeyeater and awl-bird or cobbler's awl bird. The eastern spinebill is polytypic, consisting of the subspecies A. t. cairnsensis, A. t. dubius, A. t. halmaturinus, and the nominate subspecies A. t. tenuirostris.<p>The eastern spinebill forms a superspecies with the closely related western spinebill. Scientists believe the two sister species are descended from a shared ancestor whose once widespread populations were separated by climate change. During a past period of desertification, that ancestor species retreated to refuges in the southwestern and southeastern corners of the continent, and evolved into the two present-day spinebill species. Recent DNA studies have shown that the two spinebills belong to a clade which is a sister taxon to all other honeyeaters.
- Scientific name
- Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris
- Authority
- (Latham, 1801)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Meliphagidae
- Genus
- Acanthorhynchus
Range and habitat
Eastern spinebills 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.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Mao
Gymnomyza samoensis
A large, entirely dark honeyeater. Plumage becomes paler from the shoulders back, turning blackish to yellowish-olive. Note the caramel-colored moustache stripe below the eye. Dependent on native primary forest in foothills and montane areas. Voice includes a sequence of rising nasal piping notes, vocal and loud.
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Sitta pusilla
Small nuthatch of pine woodlands in the southeastern U.S. Note brown cap and pale off-white underparts. Very similar plumage to Pygmy Nuthatch, but no range overlap. Usually occurs in small flocks high in the crowns of pine trees, sometimes mixed with other songbirds. Listen for squeaky calls, very much like a toy rubber ducky.
White-plumed Honeyeater
Ptilotula penicillata
A small-to-medium-sized honeyeater named after the distinctive patch of white feathers on neck. Adults are primarily olive-gray with a yellow face. Breeding adults have an entirely black bill, whereas the bills of juveniles and nonbreeding adults have a yellow base. Found in open woodlands as well as in parks and gardens, typically near water. Females build a small, cup-shaped nest using grass and spider webs. This species is widespread across mainland Australia but absent in the far north and the southwest.
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