Yellow-tufted Honeyeater

Scientific Name: Lichenostomus melanops

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Medium-sized yellow-olive passerine, darker upper parts and lighter underneath, with typical honeyeater bill. Black mask, yellow throat with narrow dusky chin, small yellow ear tuft. Unmistakable in range.

Field Notes: Endemic to Australia where found in sclerophyll forest and woodland in southeastern part of the country.

Personal Notes: A very dramatic bird, which you can partially see here. Photographed at Bartley's paddock in Chiltern, Australia.

Tawny-crowned Honeyeater

Scientific Name: Gliciphila melanops

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to Australia, where founding scrubland in the southern part of the country.

Field Notes: Medium-sized, overall brown passerine with typical honeyeater bill. White breast with rufous flanks. Tawny crown, white eye brow strip, black mask that extends down shoulder.

Personal Notes: Photographed at Ben Boyd National Park, Australia.

White-plumed Honeyeater

Scientific Name: Lichenostomus penicillatus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to Australia where found in woodland, usually near water, in southeastern central, and midwestern areas of the country.

Field Notes: Medium-sized olive-grey passerine with short but decurved honeyeater bill. Yellow head, wings, and tail. White cheek plume. Yellow-plumed Honeyeater, Grey-frounted Honeyeater, and Fuscous Honeyeater all similar but with yellow plumes, not white.

Personal Notes: Common winter bird in Chiltern, Australia.

White-eared Honeyeater

Scientific Name: Lichenostomus leucotis

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to Australia where found in dry forest and savannah in the eastern and southwestern portion of the country.

Field Notes: Medium-sized olive-green passerine with typical honeyeater bill and profile. Underparts more yellow, black throat and mask, grey cap, and white ear patch. Yellow-faced Honeyeater similar but ear patch yellow, extending to bill, and grey throat.

Personal Notes: Seen at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, outside Canberra.

Eastern Spinebill

Scientific Name: Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to Australia, where found in forested and savannah areas long the east coast and into the southeastern corner of the country.

Field Notes: Fine billed honeyeater with black head and crescent down sides. Red eye. Rufous neck, flanks, and throat patch. Extensive white in outer tail feathers. Non-overlapping with similar Western Spinebill.

Personal Notes: Quite a lucky photo taken at Australian National Botanical Gardens in Canberra.

New Holland Honeyeater

Scientific Name: Phylidonyris novaehollandiae

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to Australia where found in undergrowth of woodland and open areas where banksia species found, primarily in southwest and southeast Australia, including Tasmania.

Field Notes: Medium-sized passerine with long, slender, decurved bill. Largely black and white, boldly streaked, white eye. Yellow on edges of wings and tail. White-cheeked Honeyeater with black eye and larger white cheek patch. Painted Honeyeater with orange bill, white breast and black eye

Personal Notes: Common bird on hike outside Manly, Australia. Unfortunately, one camera had died and the other had no telephoto lens! We hit the camera store in Sydney later that day...and were rewarded with this photo in Ben Boyd NP.

Noisy Miner

Scientific Name: Manorina melanocephala

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to Australia where commonly found in eucalyptus woodland and urban areas of eastern Australia.

Field Notes: Medium-sized grey passerine with white forehead and black crown. Underparts white. Bill decurved and yellow. Also with yellow patch being eye and in wing. Yellow-throated Miner with yellow patch beside throat. Black-eared Miner with black patch behind eye, not crown.

Personal Notes: Noisy, cheeky birds seen in Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens.

Bell Miner

Scientific Name: Manorina melanophrys

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to Australia, where found in wooded areas in the southeast, exclusive of Tasmania. 

Field Notes: Medium-sized, olive-green passerine with yellow bill and legs and orange patch behind the eye. Sociable bird with loud, bell-like call. 

Personal Notes: Seen at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. 

Red Wattlebird

Scientific Name: Anthochaera carunculata

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to Australia where found in forests and shrubland of the southern part of the country.

Field Notes: Large passerine with long tail and curved bill of the honeyeaters. Overall brown with white stippling on breast and yellow belly.  Silvery ear patch, red eyes and red wattle. Male and females similar; but juveniles with less distinctive wattle. Western Wattlebird and Little Wattlebird do not have wattles. Yellow Wattlebird with, well, yellow wattles.

Personal Notes: Seen at Royal Botanical Gardens, Melbourne

Little Wattlebird

Scientific Name: Anthochaera chrysoptera

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to Australia where found in shrubland of the southeast.

Field Notes: Large passerine with long tail and long curved bill of the honeyeaters. Overall brown with white stippling on breast and silvery ear patch. Does not overlap in range with Western Wattlebird. Lacks the wattles of Red Wattlebird or Yellow Wattlebird.

Personal Notes: Seen initially at Royal Botanical Gardens, Melbourne and then later at North Head near Manly and Ben Boyd National Park. Some sources differentiate between the Little Wattlebird and Brush Wattlebird.

New Zealand Bellbird

Scientific Name: Anthornis melanura

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Endemic to New Zealand where found in native and exotic forest, scrub, and artificial habitats throughout the mainland and on Stewart Island.

Field Notes: Olive green passerine with dark face, short curved bill and long tail. Female more brown and with white stripe from corner of mouth. Its song has rich, fluid and resonant notes similar to Tui but without the coughs, clicks, grunts and wheezes.

Personal Notes: Maori name Korimako or Makomako. Seems more prevalent on South Island to us. Will readily come to nectar.

Tui

Scientific Name: Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae

Population Estimate: 2500 - 10K

Range / Habitat: Endemic to New Zealand, where found in native forest and scrub in addition to cleared areas withe kowhai and flax. 

Field Notes: Dramatic in sound and appearance, Tui is large, dark and iridescent with a white tuft at the throat. Its song has rich, fluid and resonant notes mixed with coughs, clicks, grunts and wheezes. No similar appearing birds in New Zealand, but the New Zealand Bellbird song can be similarly resonant.

Personal Notes: Always a welcome sound and sight, particularly in Wellington CBD.