Voice
A rapid, mellow, musical, kwit, kwit-kweeeit, kwit-kwit'. A peevish, 'queeeit-queeit-queeit'. A sharper, more pentrating, loud, whistled, 'peet-peet-peet'. A lower, persistent, 'chwok, chwok'.
Nest
Small, cup-shaped, composed of dry grasses and wool, lined with wool or horse-hair, bound with cobweb, suspended from a branch, in a bush or small tree.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 3; pale pink, spotted red-brown at the larger end; oval; about 20 x 14 mm. Incubation: about 14 days; probably by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 12 - 15 days.
Subspecies
Subspecies graingeri intergrades with nominate in narrow zone in central-eastern South Australia (western slopes of Flinders Ranges and Willouran Range), and appears to intergrade with planasi in central-eastern Queensland (but few data). It is uncertain whether planasi and nominate intergrade where they meet (in central Northern Territory). Birds from Port Augusta, South Australia, described as subspecies ethelae, which name is sometimes applied to eastern Australian form.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
plumula (Gould, 1841) - South-western and central Australia from near western coast (between Pilbara region and Geraldton) east to central ranges of southern northern Territory and to east-central South Australia (south to eastern Nullarbor Plain, east to Gawler Ranges and western edge of L Eyre Basin).
planasi (Campbell, AJ, 1910) - Northern western Australia (southern and eastern Kimberley Division) eastern across southern Top End to northern Queensland (southern Gulf of Carpentaria-Selwyn Range and, in north-west, west of Great Divide).
graingeri (Mathews, 1912) - Inland eastern Australia sparsely from Ceastern Queensland (c. 20-21° S) south, east to western fringes of Great Divide, to south-western New South Wales and north-western Victoria, and through Murray-Darling Basin west to Flinders Ranges of South Australia.
Similar Species
Yellow-plumed Honeyeater (Ptilotula ornata) which has a finer, narrowr yellow plume, has more heavily steaked underparts, and a faint yellow line under the eye.
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