Yellow-plumed Honeyeater

Overview

The yellow-plumed honeyeater (Ptilotula ornata) is a medium-sized bird endemic to southern mainland Australia, classified as a species of Least Concern. It inhabits temperate forests and Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, specifically favouring mallee environments.

Identification

• Medium-sized with an olive-green head, grey-green upperparts, and heavily streaked grey-brown underparts.
• Features a distinctive, upswept yellow neck plume and a dark face with a faint yellow line under the eye.
• Possesses a relatively long, down-curved black bill.
• Song is a loud, clear, three-note chier wit chier, often performed before dawn.

Habitat

Primarily found in mallee, though they occupy a broader range of habitats in the west including dry eucalypt woodland and open-forest. Their distribution covers southern mainland Australia, extending from western New South Wales and Victoria, through South Australia, to south-west Western Australia.

Diet

Mainly insectivorous, foraging actively in the outer and upper foliage of eucalypts and hawking insects on the wing. They also feed opportunistically on nectar from mallee eucalypts, yellow gum, grey box, red ironbark, and box mistletoe.

Did you know?

These birds exhibit cooperative behaviour by engaging in communal wing quivering displays to jointly defend nesting and feeding territories.