Western Wattlebird
Anthochaera lunulata
Medium-large honeyeater found in southwestern Australia, typically in scrub and dry coastal woodlands. Grayish brown overall with fine white streaking; pale tips to tail feathers and chestnut in primary feathers most easily observed in flight. Easily distinguished from Red Wattlebird by the lack of pink wattles below the eye and the lack of yellow lower belly. Often found near flowering Banksia, where it is typically very active and vocal, with rough, loud, squawking calls.
Identification
The adult western wattlebird has dark grey-brown upper-parts with pale streaks and spots. It has a dark brown forehead, crown and nape, streaked with fine, whitish shafts. Underparts are dark grey, streaked and tipped white. It has a blackish-brown streak bordering the eye, and has a red iris.<p>A large honeyeater, it is long and slender. A sample of the genders recorded sizes of 29–33 centimetres in length, 65–78 grams in weight for the males; and 27–30 cm and 47–57 g for the females. The weight range for unsexed birds is 45.5–83 grams.
Taxonomy
The species description was published by John Gould in 1838, from a specimen collected at the Swan River and held at "Fort Pitt, Chatham collection". The entry in his The Birds of Australia (1848) gives a common name of "Lunulated Wattle-Bird", and notes that the colonists referred to it as the little wattlebird.A treatment as a western population of the species Anthochaera chrysoptera, and thus conspecific with the 'little wattlebird' group of the eastern states, is cited by some authorities. Both species are assigned to the subgenus Anthochaera (Anellobia), taking its name from the generic description of Jean Cabanis (1851). Other workers regard this as a separate species, A. lunulata, based on morphological and plumage differences, and a different eye colour in these two populations. The taxonomy enthusiast, G. M. Mathews, published a description as the subspecies Anthochaera chrysoptera albani in his Austral Avian Record (1923), now regarded as a synonym for this species.<p>The epithet lunulata 'crescent-shaped' is derived from Latin lunula for 'little moon'.
- Scientific name
- Anthochaera lunulata
- Authority
- Gould, 1838
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Meliphagidae
- Genus
- Anthochaera
Range and habitat
Found in the southwest of Australia, in the high rainfall area formerly dominated by forest and woodland. They occur toward the coast from Israelite Bay north to Geraldton, and inland to the Stirling Range, Lake Grace and Northam.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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