Nest
Cup-shaped, composed of dried sea-grasses, weeds, and dead leaves, lined with fine rootlets, usually suspended among the foliage of a mangrove.
Eggs (Guide)
2; lustrous, pink-buff, with a few tiny spots of red-brown and purple, mainly at the larger end; oval; about 23 x 17 mm.
Young
Probably fledge in 10 - 13 days.
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens) and Mangrove Honeyeater (Gavicalis fasciogularis). Previously considered conspecific with Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens); has sometimes been considered conspecific with Mangrove Honeyeater (Gavicalis fasciogularis) with which it apparently hybridizes to limited extent in south of range (near Townsville).
In New Guinea, other proposed subspecies are intermedius (originally described from Samarai I, off south-eastern coast) and vulgaris (described from Finschhafen, in Huon Peninsula), both synonymized with sonoroides but perhaps worthy of recognition.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
versicolor (Gould, 1843) - Coastal southern New Guinea from Merauke eastern (including some islands, e.g. Wallai I) at least to Port Moresby and probably farther (to Milne Bay); islands of Torres Strait (including Boigu, Saibai, Daru, Yam and Possession); and north-eastern Australia southern in coastal north-eastern Queensland (including islands of Great Barrier Reef) to Townsville.
sonoroides (Gray, GR, 1862) - West Papuan Is (Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati, Schildpad, Misool), and patchily coastal northern New Guinea from Vogelkop eastern (including cities of Lae and Madang) to Milne Bay, and associated offshore islands of Yapen (in Geelvink Bay), Fergusson (in D’Entrecasteaux Is) and other islands off south-eastern peninsula (including Killerton, Samarai and Doini).
vulgaris (Salomonsen, 1966) - Coastal northern New Guinea, Yapen I. and Fergusson I.
intermedius (Mayr & Rand, 1935) - Samarai, Doini and Killerton islands (off eastern New Guinea).
Similar Species
Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens) which has a grey upper breast and lacks the white patch on the side of the neck and Mangrove Honeyeater (Gavicalis fasciogularis) which has a brown barred pattern on a yellow throat and a grey-brown zone accros the upper breast.
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