Fuscous Honeyeater.
Photo: SG Lane Collection © Australian Museum
Fuscous Honeyeater at nest.
Photo: Purnell Collection © Australian Museum
Distribution map of Lichenostomus fuscus
Map © Birds Australia Birdata
Fuscous Honeyeater
Scientific name: Lichenostomus fuscus
Family: Meliphagidae
Order: Passeriformes
- Featured Bird Groups
- Honeyeaters
What does it look like?
Description
The Fuscous Honeyeater is a medium-small 'plain' olive-brown honeyeater with an unmarked face, apart from a slightly 'bruised' colouring around the eye. It has a small, indistinct yellow ear tuft bordered black. The eye is brown. The eye ring and base of bill are yellow out of breeding season and dark during breeding. The slightly curved bill is medium-sized. The sexes are similar, with males slightly larger than females.
Similar species
The Fuscous Honeyeater is the plainest of the 'tufted' honeyeaters (Lichenostomus sp.), with the least obvious tuft. It is similar to the Yellow-tinted Honeyeater, L. flavescens, which shares its range in north-eastern Queensland, but this species tends to be more yellow, with a more conspicuous black crescent-shaped mark at the ear. Other similar honeyeaters, such as the Grey-fronted, L. plumulus, and the Yellow-plumed, L. ornatus, have larger and more conspicuous yellow plumes, boldy bordered with black, and have more streaked underparts, while the White-plumed Honeyeater, L. penicillatus, has an olive-green to yellow head and a white neck plume.
Where does it live?
Distribution
The Fuscous Honeyeater is found in mainland eastern Australia from Cooktown and the Atherton Tableland, Queensland, south to eastern South Australia. In New South Wales, it is found mostly from the foothills to western slopes of the Great Dividing Range, being more scattered along the coast.
Habitat
The Fuscous Honeyeater prefers open dry eucalypt forests and woodlands with shrubby or open grassy understorey. Sometimes found on farms with remnant forest patches and sometimes seen in gardens.
Seasonal movements
Some local seasonal movements; altitudinal migration in south-east, with birds moving down from higher regions during autumn and winter, e.g. in Canberra, the Fuscous Honeyeater becomes common from May to August, but is rarely seen during the summer.
What does it do?
Feeding
The Fuscous Honeyeater feeds mainly on insects, including their products (e.g. honeydew, lerps), and other invertebrates, as well as on nectar. It forages on foliage in trees and shrubs, less often on branches and trunks. In the non-breeding season, may form flocks of up to 20 birds, and will sometimes feed in association with other species, such as White-naped Honeyeaters, thornbills and Little Lorikeets.
Breeding
Fuscous Honeyeaters are semi-colonial, living in groups that jointly defend a permanent territory. However, they breed in monogamous pairs, with the female building the nest and incubating the eggs. Both sexes feed the nestlings. Nests may be built on their own or as part of colony. The nest is a delicate rounded cup suspended in high foliage and made from grass, spider web, bark and wool, lined sparsely with grass or wool.
References
Higgins, P.J., Peter, J.M. and Steele, W.K. (eds) 2001. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, Volume 5 (Tyrant-flycatchers to Chats). Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Longmore, N.W. 1991. The Honeyeaters and their Allies of Australia. Angus and Robertson and The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife, Sydney.
Pizzey, G. and Knight, F. 1997. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.
Simpson, K and Day, N. 1999. Field guide to the birds of Australia, 6th Edition. Penguin Books, Australia.