Common. Sedentary in the north of its range, migratory to southern most areas and elsewhere nomadic.
Habitat
Dry open sclerophyll forests and woodlands, usually dominated by eucalypts, and usually with a sparse understorey. Often in forest and woodland around wetlands, with flowering shrubs. Mangroves.
Scarlet Myzomela (Myzomela sanguinolenta) [XC578219]
by nick talbot from Gilgai Wetland, Pilliga, New South Wales, Australia (call)
Scarlet Myzomela (Myzomela sanguinolenta) [XC441598]
by James Lambert from Faulconbridge, Blue Mountains City Council, New South Wales, Australia (call)
Nest
Small, cup-shaped, composed of thin strips of bark and rootlets, and sometimes horse-hair, lined with fine grass, usually suspended from a slender, drooping fork from 1 - 10 m above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
Usually 2; white, generally spotted with rust-brown and some yellower and greyer tones, partucularly at the larger end; oval; about 16 x 12 mm. Incubation: 11 - 12 days; by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 11 - 12 days. Fledglings fed by both sexes.
sanguinolenta (Latham, 1801) - Coastal and subcoastal eastern Australia from the uplands of the Atherton - Windsor - Shipton Flat in north-eastern Queensland, south to east Gippsland, Vic., inland to the eastern watershed of the Great Divide.
caledonica W. A. Forbes, 1879 - Mangroves and forests of New Caledonia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, New Caledonian Myzomela (Myzomela caledonica).
Similar Species
Red-headed Honeyeater (Myzomela erythrocephala) which does not have red on extending down the breast or over the back, and has greyer underparts, and females and juveniles Brown Honeyeater (Lichmera indistincta) which is somewhat larger, has a longer bill, and a longer tail.
References
See References.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
(41Kb) © ? (
BirdLife International Species Factsheet