Voice
Sharp, abrupt, musical, 'tchip', repeated at intervals of several seconds. Also a clear, ringing, fast, 'whit-whit-whit-whit-' and a weaker, 'tsip-tsip-tsip'.
Graceful Honeyeater (Microptilotis gracilis) [XC436574]
by Marc Anderson from Cook's Hut Camping Area, Iron Range National Park, Queensland, Australia (call, song)
Graceful Honeyeater (Microptilotis gracilis) [XC435822]
by Marc Anderson from Old Coen Track, Iron Range National Park, Queensland, Australia (call, song)
Nest
Cup-shaped, composed of shreds of bark, usually covered with green moss, lined with silky plant-fibre, suspended from a leafy branch of a low tree.
Eggs (Guide)
Usually 2; smooth, glossy, salmon-flesh with chestnut and purple-red spots forming a zone at the larger end; oval; about 20 x 15 mm. Incubation: about 14 - 15 days.
Young
Fledge in about 14 - 15 days.
Subspecies
Sometimes treated as conspecific with Elegant Honeyeater (Microptilotis cinereifrons). In north-eastern Australia (northern Queensland) subspecies possibly intergrade in narrow zone roughly between Cooktown and Ayton.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
gracilis (Gould, 1866) - Aru Is, southern New Guinea (Triton Bay east to Purari Delta), Bristow I (off Daru, in extreme northern Torres Strait), and coastal and subcoastal north-eastern Australia (northern Queensland from Cape York south to Archer-Mitchell rivers and, in Eastern, to Princess Charlotte Bay and Cooktown-Ayton region).
imitatrix (Mathews, 1912) - Coastal north-eastern Queensland from around Princess Charlotte Bay and Cooktown south to Halifax Bay and southern Paluma Range, and inland to Atherton Tableland.
Similar Species
Lewin's Honeyeater (Meliphaga lewinii) which is larger, has a dusky blue-grey eye, larger, yellow, half-moon shaped ear patch and Yellow-spotted Honeyeater (Meliphaga notata) which is also larger, and also has a brown eye, but with a larger ear patch with a blunt rearward point.
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
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet