Brown-headed honeyeater

Appearance

A small honeyeater ranging from 13 to 15 cm in length, it is olive brown above and buff below, with a brown head, nape and throat, with a cream or orange patch of bare skin over the eye and a white crescent-shaped patch on the nape. The legs and feet are orange.

Naming

The brown-headed honeyeater was first described by Vigors & Horsfield in 1827. Its species name is derived from the Latin terms ''brevis'' "short", and ''rostrum'' "beak". Five subspecies have been described. The race ''magnirostris'' from Kangaroo Island has a noticeably larger bill.

Distribution

The brown-headed honeyeater ranges from central-southern Queensland, down through central and eastern New South Wales , across Victoria and into eastern South Australia, where it is found in the Flinders Ranges and around the lower Murray River region. It occurs in southern Western Australia.

Behavior

It makes a scratchy ''chwik-chwik-chwik'' call.

Reproduction

Brown-headed honeyeaters may nest from July to December, breeding once or twice during this time. The nest is a thick-walled bowl of grasses and bits of bark lined with softer plant material hidden in the outer foliage of a tall tree, usually a eucalypt. Two or three eggs are laid, 16 x 13 mm and shiny buff-pink sparsely spotted with red-brown .

Food

Insects form the bulk of the diet, and like its close relatives the black-chinned and strong-billed honeyeaters, the brown-headed honeyeater forages by probing in bark of trunks and branches of trees.