Food
Insects and nectar, procurred among blossoms and foliage.
Voice
Clear, rapid calls, more mellow than sharp, with slight variations giving a rollicking rise and fall, 'quirrip-quarreep-quirrip-quarreep-quirrip-quarreep', 'cherr-cherr-cherry-cherry'.
Nest
Cup-shaped and deep, composed of grasses and rootlets, neatly woven with plant-down, sheep's wool and occasionally emu feathers, lined with fine grasses, hair and feathers, suspended near the end of a drooping and swaying branch of a she-oak or other tree.
Eggs (Guide)
3 or 4; dull white, usually marked with brown-red and underlying pale purple-grey, sometimes forming a cap or zone at the larger end; oval; about 23 x 17 mm. Incubation: about 15 - 17 days; both sexes.
Young
Fledge in 15 - 17 days.
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Similar Species
In brief and distant views with Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis) which has darker gray plumage, has a rounded tail, lacking a notch, has a paler, and a whiter rump-patch.
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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