South-eastern Australia from about Grafton, NSW south to Tasmania and west to Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island, SA. Also Western Australia from the Murchison River to Israelite Bay.
Nest
Cup-shaped, composed of bark and grass, matted with cobweb, and lined with plant-down, placed near the ground in a tussock of grass or a small bush
Eggs (Guide)
2, rarely 3; white to pale pink, sparingly spotted and blotched with red-brown; oval; about 21 x 14 mm. Incubation: about 13 - 16 days; by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 12 - 13 days.
Subspecies
Formerly, birds from Kangaroo I were separated as subspecies braba and those from Bass Strait islands and eastern Tasmania as crassirostris, but there are no significant differences from mainland birds.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
melanops (Latham, 1801) - South-western western Australia (southern from Kalbarri-Geraldton), eastern across southern Australia (largely absent Nullarbor coast and Nullarbor Plain) to south-eastern South Australia including Kangaroo I (and extending northern through Flinders Ranges to Wilpena Pound), Victoria, and eastern coast of New South Wales (except far north-east). Also islands in Bass Strait (King I, Hunter Is, Furneaux Group; historical records in Kent Group), and eastern Tasmania.
chelidonia Schodde & Mason, IJ, 1999 - North-western, western and south-western coasts of Tasmania.
Similar Species
In poor light with Crescent Honeyeater (Phylidonyris pyrrhopterus) which also has cresent type markings.
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