Méliphage brunâtre

Identification

The brown honeyeater is a medium-small, plain grey-brown honeyeater with a body length of 12–16 centimetres (4.7–6.3 in), a wingspan of 18–23 centimetres (7.1–9.1 in), and an average weight of 9–11 grams (0.32–0.39 oz). The female is slightly smaller than the male, but the sexes differ only slightly in appearance. The head, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts are brown, and the wings a darker brown. The only distinguishing features are a small yellow patch behind the eye, which is indistinct in some birds, and dull yellow-olive panels in the folded wings and tail. The brown honeyeater's sexual dimorphism is slight. The adult male has a dark brownish-grey forehead and crown, contrasting with a brownish nape. The forehead and crown of the adult female is a similar olive-brown to the rest of the upper body. A juvenile bird is similar to the female, but may lack or show only a trace of the yellow tuft behind the eye. The bill is black, and is long, slender, and curved slightly downwards, well adapted for probing deep tubular flowers. The gape in the male is black when breeding, and pale yellow at other times. The gape of the female is always pale yellow, and in the juvenile it is bright yellow and swollen. The iris is brown, and the feet and legs grey-black.<p>The appearance of the various subspecies is uniform, with other races similar in size and plumage to the nominate race with slight variations in degrees of colouration, and small differences in the length of the bill and the tail. Compared with L. i. indistincta, the male L. i. ocularis has slightly darker feathers on the top of the head with a greater contrast between crown and nape, and a longer bill. L. i. melvillensis has a moderately darker throat and breast than indistincta, and the female has a shorter tail. In L. i. nupta the differences between the sexes are even slighter than in the nominate race.<p>The nondescript brown honeyeater has a noteworthy song, usually described in superlatives. "A glorious voice, easily the best songster among Australian honeyeaters," is how one study of West Australian birds noted. "As a singer it has no superior among the honeyeater family, or for that matter, among Australian birds," said another report. It has a clear, rolling, musical call, rendered as sweet-sweet-quarty-quarty, which is very loud for the size of the bird. Both sexes call, usually early in the morning, though the male calls throughout the day during the breeding season. The alarm call is a harsh ke-ke given several times at short intervals.

Taxonomie

The brown honeyeater was originally described by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield in 1827 as Meliphaga indistincta. The species name indistincta is from the Latin word meaning 'indistinct, obscure'. Vigors and Horsfield were working from the bird collection of the Linnean Society in London, and they said of the brown honeyeater specimen, "It is however in very bad condition, and scarcely admits of a description." Later included in the "catch-all" genus Gliciphila, the brown honeyeater is now classified as a member of the genus Lichmera, from the Greek word meaning 'to lick' or 'to dart the tongue', following Schodde (1975), Sibley and Monroe (1990) and Christidis and Boles (1994). As well as the nominate race Lichmera indistincta indistincta, a number of other subspecies are recognised: ocularis (derived from the Medieval Latin word oculus meaning 'eye'), melvillensis (named for Melville Island where it is found), limbatus (from the Latin for 'fringed') and nupta (from the Latin nubere meaning 'to marry'). The Indonesian honeyeater (subspecies limbatus) was previously considered a distinct species due to its disjunct range, but is now treated as a subspecies of L. indistincta by major taxonomic authorities. A 2017 genetic study using both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA confirms the close relationship between the two, their lineages having diverged recently (in the order of tens of thousands of years).<p>Molecular 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.

Nom scientifique

Lichmera indistincta

Autorité

(Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)

Ordre

Passériformes

Famille

Meliphagidae

Genre

Lichmera

Répartition et habitat

The brown honeyeater is found in a wide range of wooded habitats, and is widespread across Australia. The nominate race ranges across a broad band from Newcastle on the New South Wales coast north and west to Queensland and the Top End to southwestern Western Australia. It is rarely seen in Sydney, where populations have declined since the late 1950s, though it is being recorded in suitable habitats, such as Homebush Bay and Kurnell in small numbers, and is a vagrant to the Illawarra region. It is rare in South Australia, and not present in Victoria and Tasmania. Population densities range from 2.3 birds per 1 hectare (2.5 acres) in the Kakadu National Park, to 0.26 birds per hectare in Wellard in Western Australia.<p>L. i. ocularis is found in New Guinea, the Torres Strait Islands, and Cape York intergrading with the nominate race along the Gulf of Carpentaria river system. L. i. melvillensis inhabits the Tiwi Islands, while L. i. limbata is found in Bali and the Lesser Sundas, and L. i. nupta on the Aru Islands.<p>The brown honeyeater is seasonally nomadic across its local area in response to flowering food plants. For example, there are marked increases in numbers in Toowoomba in southeast Queensland during winter, and in the Northern Territory the range contracts during the dry season. It is commonly found among mangroves in coastal areas including black mangroves (Rhizophora mucronata). It is often in woodlands that merge into the mangroves, such as those dominated by Banksia, Melaleuca or Callistemon, and widespread in sclerophyll forests and eucalypt woodlands. In the arid and semi-arid inland of Australia, it is most often recorded in Acacia, Grevillea and Hakea shrubland along watercourses, and at bores, springs, and drainage lines. It visits flowering shrubs in parks and gardens, and occurs in remnant patches of trees on travelling stock routes.

Migration

Nomade

Comportement

Mode de migration: Nomade.

Conservation

Tendance de la population: en déclin.

Tendance de la population

en déclin