Habitat
Open woodlands and low shrublands, usually supporting shrubby understorey of emu-bush, or sometimes grevillia, paperbarks or acacias. Also low open eucalypyt woodlands.
Australia from western coast east, largely south of c. 19° south, to western slopes of Great Divide; typically absent from larger desert regions (e.g. Simpson Desert), Nullarbor Plain, and moister coastal and subcoastal areas of south-west, south and south-east.
From mid-western Australia through Central Australia to western Queensland, western New South Wales, northern South Australia, and north-western Victoria.
Breeding Season (Guide)
August - December or after rain.
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Nest
Small, open, shallow, composed of twigs, grass and rootlets, bound with cobweb, usually in a dead fork or in fallen branches, seldom more than 2 m above the ground.
Eggs (Guide)
2 or 3; buff with dusky purple spotted zone near the large end; swollen-oval; about 15 x 12 mm. Incubation: by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 15 - 16 days.
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Pied Honeyeater (Certhionyx variegatus) which is noticably larger, proportionately longer tail, thicker, paler bill, has a small semi-circular patch of bare skin abutting the bottom of the eye, and in males the black covers the only the chin and throat.
Compare Images
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
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