Pied honeyeater

Appearance

The pied honeyeater has a long curved bill and a small pale-blue patch of bare skin below the eye which is semicircular in males and arc-shaped in females and juveniles. Males are black and white, having a black head, neck and upper parts, a white lower rump and upper tail, black wings with a white stripe, and white underparts with a black tipped tail. Females are brown above, with a grey-white chin, a whitish breast streaked and spotted dark-brown, white underparts and white stripe along the edges of the secondary wing feathers.

Adult weight is approximately 27 grams making it a mid-sized honeyeater, body length is generally between 15 and 20 cm. and wingspan is between 25 and 29 cm. . The long pointed wing characterizing ''Certhionyx variegatus'' reflects movements which extend the length of the continent .

The call of the pied honeyeater has been described as a “mournful whistle, resembling that of ''Megalurus gramineus''” . During breeding season it utters a “melancholy piping note” .

A superficially similar honeyeater is the black honeyeater, . It has a different call, is smaller, with a finer bill, shorter tail and lacks the bare eye patch. Males of this species also have a distinctive stripe down the center of the chest and abdomen, while females have plainer wings and less streaking on the breast .

Distribution

In the early 1900s this species was “widely distributed, principally over the southern half of the continent” . Data mapping by Gannon , shows occurrences primarily across central and western NSW, the arid interior and the eastern parts of South Australia.

Atlas project data between 1998 and 2014 indicates that the pied honeyeater is found principally in a band below approximately 18 ° S which extends roughly from central Queensland, central NSW and central Victoria in the east and across to the Western Australian coastline .

Status

The pied honeyeater is listed as by the International Union of Conservation of Nature due to its extremely large range and apparent stability of population size, however population size has not been quantified. It has been seen to be subject to threatening processes that generally act at the landscape scale rather than at distinct, definable locations. The is currently developing a targeted approach for managing such landscape species. Identified management actions include encouragement of the protection of rich nectar producing patches of woodland and shrubs from stock and goats, development of educational and promotional information to generate conservation interest and status assessments . Targeted management strategies are also being implemented via the NSW Murray Biodiversity Management Plan .

The mobility of nomadic birds makes it difficult to gain a qualitative impression of population changes and while migrants and nomads may give the illusion of abundance as large flocks aggregate at rich patches of food, they are not spread evenly across the landscape and their total numbers are often fewer than appears.

Behavior

There is little known about the social organization and behavior of this species, in part due to its erratic movements and also because individuals are widely characterized as very nervous, always on the move , very shy, ‘quick on the wing’ and very timid . Birds are often seen singly and in pairs however early Australian records note movements of pied honeyeaters in “constant” flocks, “flying against the wind ……in flocks at times of fifty or more” and in larger flocks of several hundred .

Seasonal flocks have been observed flying in the company of black honeyeaters , crimson chats , black-faced woodswallows and masked woodswallows . It has been observed feeding in the company of black honeyeaters , “greenies” and yellow-throated miners

During breeding displays pairs sometimes fly into the air together and “literally loop and loop” and a male may soar “singing, into the air from the top of a tree, and suddenly drop, always turning over backward in its descent” . Males advertising territorial display will similarly, fly singing vertically into the air . Actions in the air appear similar to the black honeyeater and flight is said to resemble that of the critically endangered regent honeyeater .

There is little information on feeding behavior however Shelly et al. note that the pied honeyeater is rarely noted feeding in mixed flocks. Information on agonistic behavior is also limited however territorial calling and aerial displays have been noted and feigning of lameness or a broken wing if disturbed off a nest containing young has been recorded .

Habitat

In the early 1900s this species was “widely distributed, principally over the southern half of the continent” . Data mapping by Gannon , shows occurrences primarily across central and western NSW, the arid interior and the eastern parts of South Australia.

Atlas project data between 1998 and 2014 indicates that the pied honeyeater is found principally in a band below approximately 18 ° S which extends roughly from central Queensland, central NSW and central Victoria in the east and across to the Western Australian coastline .The pied honeyeater is found in the arid and semi-arid zones, on the sand hills of inland plains, inland ranges, granite outcrops and also on the coastal sand hills of Western Australia . It frequents shrublands and woodlands with the former dominated by emu bush Eremophila spp. and grevilleas, . Habitat may include a scattering of river red gum ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'' along watercourses and ''Casuarina Myoporum'' along dry watercourses and dry salt lakes .

Pied honeyeaters also habituate spinifex-dominated grasslands within scattered areas of mulga, Casuarina and bloodwood )
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Reproduction

June and the five following months constitute the usual breeding season of this species, nests with eggs being more frequently found in August and September . However, there have been examples of breeding in March in central and northern Australia, usually following heavy rains .

Both sexes contribute with nest construction, incubation of eggs and caring for the young. Nests can be built and eggs laid within 3 days and may be built in low shrubs or trees including , sandlewood ) or on top of thick creepers, about 122 cm to 155 cm above the ground . The nest is generally an open, deep, saucer-shaped, well-made structure constructed from twigs or short grass stems bound with spider-web, which may be placed on thin twigs at the end of a branch or at the junction of several thin horizontal leafy stems and suspended by the rim .

Egg sizes are approximately 1.65 cm to 2.36 cm in length. Shape varies from oval to rounded and elongate oval. The shell is close grained, smooth and usually lustreless with a dull white base colour, over which is evenly distributed freckles and spots of blackish-brown, with underlying markings of dull bluish-grey .

Food

The pied honeyeater feeds primarily on nectar, but also eats insects, fruit and seeds. It utilizes its long bill to explore flowers and foliage of trees and shrubs, especially Emu bush and a variety of eucalypts and grevilleas . It has been observed feeding in lignum , flowering turpentine and tobacco-bush . It also feeds on the seeds of harlequin fuchsia- bush and turpentine . Stomach content analysis has revealed "grape-like" seeds, berries, grit and insects and larvae Lea & Gray 1936, p. 264).

In the Australian desert the Meliphagidae are highly dependent on free water, with the pied honeyeater being classified as a ‘summer drinker’, recorded drinking on more than half of the days on which temperature exceeds 25 degrees C. .