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Blue-faced honeyeater

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Blue-faced Honeyeater
At Columbus Zoo, USA
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Order:
Passeriformes
Family:
Meliphagidae
Genus:
Entomyzon

Swainson, 1825
Species:
E. cyanotis
Binomial name
Entomyzon cyanotis
(Latham, 1802)

The Blue-faced Honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis), also colloquially known as Bananabird, is a passerine bird of the Honeyeater family Meliphagidae commonly found around the northern and eastern coasts of Australia and New Guinea. The only member of its genus, it is most closely related to honeyeaters of the genus Melithreptus. Three subspecies are recognised. It is large for a honeyeater and easily identified by its bare blue face-patch. Found in open woodland, parks and gardens, its diet is mostly composed of invertebrates, with nectar and fruit supplementing.

Taxonomy and naming

Originally described as Gracula cyanotis by ornithologist John Latham in 1802, though he also considered Merops (as M. cyanops) and Turdus (as T. cyanous).[1] It is the only member of the genus Entomyzon, although its plumage suggests an affinity with honeyeaters of the genus Melithreptus. It has been classified in that genus by Storr,[2][3] though others felt it more closely related to Wattlebirds (Anthochaera) or Miners (Manorina).[4] A 2004 molecular study, however, has resolved it as close to Melithreptus after all.[5] Molecular markers show the Blue-faced Honeyeater diverged from the Melithreptus honeyeaters somewhere betweeb 12.8 and 6.4 million years ago in the Miocene epoch. It differs from them in its much larger size, brighter plumage and more gregarious nature and larger patch of bare facial skin.[6]

DNA analysis has shown honeyeaters to be related to the Pardalotidae (pardalotes), Acanthizidae (Australian warblers, scrubwrens, thornbills, etc.), and the Maluridae (Australian fairy-wrens) in a large Meliphagoidea superfamily.[7]

The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek stems ento-/εντο- ("inside") and myzein/μυζειν "to drink" or "suck" while the specific name "blue-eared" comes from cyano-/κυανο "blue" and otis/ωτος Latinized genitive of ous/ους "ear".[8] Other common names include Banana-bird, Pandanus-bird, White-quilled Honeyeater, Morning-bird, Blue-eye and Gympie.[9] It is called (minha) yeewi, where minha is a qualifier meaning 'meat' or 'animal', in Pakanh, (inh -) ewelmb in Uw Oykangand and Uw Olkola, where inh- is a qualifier meaning 'meat' or 'animal', in three aboriginal languages of central Cape York Peninsula.[10]

Three subspecies are recognized. Molecular work supports the current classification of albipennis and cyanotis, while only one bird of griseigularis was sampled and shown to be generically close to cyanotis.[6]

  • E. c. albipennis was described by John Gould in 1841 and found in north Queensland, west though the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory and across into the top of Western Australia,[11] with white on the wings and a discontinuous stripe on the nape. The wing patch is pure white in the Western part of its range and is more cream towards the eastern part.[12] It has a longer bill and shorter tail than the nominate race. Birds also decrease in size the further north in range, consistent with Bergmann's rule.[13]
  • E. c. cyanotis is the nominate race described below. It is found from Cape York Peninsula south through Queensland and New South Wales into the Riverina region.
  • E. c. griseigularis is found in southwestern New Guinea, described in 1909.[14] It is much smaller than the other subspecies. The original name for this subspecies was harteri, however the type specimen was found to be an intergrade form. This subspecies intergrades with cyanotis in the Cape York Peninsula.[13] The white wing patch is larger than that of cyanotis and smaller than that of albipennis.[12] A limited

Description

Juvenile near Eumundi, Queensland

A large honeyeater ranging from 26 to 32 cm (9–13 in) and averaging 29.5 cm (11.6 in) in length, the adult Blue-faced honeyeater has a wingspan of 44 cm (17 in) and weighs around 105 g (3.7 oz). In general shape, it has broad wings and a medium squarish tail. It is easily recognised by its patch of bare blue skin around its eyes. The head and throat are otherwise predominantly blackish with a white stripe around the nape and another from the cheek. The upperparts including back and wings are a golden-olive colour, while the underparts are white. Juveniles are distinguished by their yellow or greenish face patches and dark brown rather than black on the head.[9] The call is a ki-owt.[15]

A bird banded in May 1990 in Kingaroy in central Queensland was found dead on a road after 8 years 3.5 months at in September 1998, around 2 km (1.2 mi) away.[16]

Distribution and habitat

The Blue-faced Honeyeater is found from the Kimberleys in northwestern Australia eastwards across the Top End and into Queensland, where it is found from Cape York south across eastern and central parts of the state, roughly east of a line connecting Karumba, Blackall, Cunnamulla and Currawinya National Park.[17] It has a patchy distribution in New South Wales, occurring in the Northern Rivers and Northern Tableland regions, and along the coast south to Nambucca Heads. To the south it is generally absent from the Central and South Coast, and is instead found west of the Great Divide across Western Slopes and Riverina and to the Murray River. It is common in northern Victoria and reaches Bordertown in southeastern South Australia, its range continuing along the Murray. It is also found in the Grampians, with rare reports from southwestern Victoria. Birds occasionally reach Adelaide and there is a single record from the Eyre Peninsula.[18] Within its range, it appears to be generally sedentary. Some populations may be present or absent at different times but this appears to be from nomadic rather than seasonal migratory movements.[19]

They live throughout rainforest, dry sclerophyll forest, open woodland, pandanus, paperbarks, mangroves, watercourses, and wetter areas of semi-arid regions, as well as parks and gardens.[9]

Behaviour

The social organisation of the Blue-faced honeyeater has been little studied to date. It appears to live in pairs, family groups or small flocks, and is sometimes encountered with groups of Yellow-throated Miners (Manorina flavigula). There is some evidence of cooperative breeding, with some breeding pairs recorded with one or more helper birds.

Feeding

subspecies cyanotis feeding, south-eastern Australia

The Blue-faced Honeyeater generally forages in the branches and foliage of trees, in small groups of up to seven birds. Occasionally larger flocks of up to 30 individuals have been reported,[20] and the species has been encountered in a mixed-species foraging flock with the Little Friarbird.[21] Prey are caught mostly by sallying, although birds also probe and glean.

Their diet consists of pollen, berries, nectar, from such species as grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea) and Eucalyptus phoenicea, and cultivated crops such as bananas or particularly grapes, but the bulk of their diet consists of insects, including cockroaches, termites, grasshoppers, bugs such as lerps, scale (Coccidae) and shield bugs (Pentatomidae), beetles such as bark beetles, chafers (subfamily Melolonthinae), Click beetles, Leaf beetles, ladybirds of the genus Scymnus, weevils and shot hole borers, flies, moths, bees, ants and spiders.[22] Usually very inquisitive, and friendly birds, they will often invade a campsite, searching for edible items.

Breeding

Dayboro, SE Queensland, Australia

Blue-faced honeyeaters may nest from June to January, breeding once or twice during this time. The nest is an untidy deep bowl of sticks and bits of bark in the fork of a tree, Birds Nest or Staghorn Fern,[23] pandanus or grasstree. They often renovate and use the old nests of other species, most commonly Grey-crowned Babbler, but also Chestnut-crowned Babbler, other honeyeaters including Noisy, Little and Silver-crowned Friarbirds, Noisy Miners and Red Wattlebirds, and artamids such as Australian Magpie and butcherbird species, and even Magpie-lark.[24] In Coen, an old babbler nest in a paperbark (Melaleuca) which had been lined with messmate bark had been occupied by Blue-faced Honeyeaters and re-lined with strips of paperbark.[25] Two or rarely three eggs are laid, 22 x 32 mm (1 x 1⅓ in) and buff-pink splotched with red-brown or purplish colours.[23] The female alone incubates the eggs, over a period of 16 or 17 days.[26]

Like all passerines, the chicks are altricial; they are born blind and covered only by sparse tufts of brown down on their backs, shoulders and parts of wings. By four days they open their eyes, and pin feathers emerge from their wings on day six, and the rest of the body on days seven and eight.[26]

It is one of the many bird species parasitised by the Asian Koel.


References

  1. ^ Latham, J. (1802). Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London: G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [xxix]
  2. ^ Storr, G.M., (1977) Birds of the Northern Territory. Western Australian Museum Special Publication No. 7.
  3. ^ Storr, G.M., (1984) Revised List of Queensland birds. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement No. 19.
  4. ^ Schodde, R., (1975) Interim list of Australian Songbirds. Passerines. Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, Melbourne.
  5. ^ Driskell, A.C., Christidis, L (2004) Phylogeny and evolution of the Australo-Papuan honeyeaters (Passeriformes, Meliphagidae) Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31 943–960
  6. ^ a b Toon A, Hughes JM, Joseph L (2010). "Multilocus analysis of honeyeaters (Aves: Meliphagidae) highlights spatio-temporal heterogeneity in the influence of biogeographic barriers in the Australian monsoonal zone". Molecular Ecology. 19 (14): 2980–94. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2010.04730.x.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Barker, F.K., Cibois, A., Schikler, P., Feinstein, J., and Cracraft, J (2004) Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation. Proceedings Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 101 11040-11045
  8. ^ Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott (1980). A Greek-English Lexicon (Abridged Edition). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-910207-4.
  9. ^ a b c Higgins, p. 598.
  10. ^ Philip Hamilton (1997). "blue-faced honeyeater, Entomyzon cyanotis". Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  11. ^ Gould, J. (1841). In Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, Dec. 8, 1840. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1840: 168-178 [169]
  12. ^ a b Higgins, p. 608.
  13. ^ a b Higgins, p. 607.
  14. ^ Van Oort, E.D. (1909). Birds from south western and southern New Guinea. Nova Guinea Résultats de l'expédition scientifique Néerlandaise a la Nouvelle-Guinée. Nova Guinea Zool. 9: 51-107 [97].
  15. ^ Simpson K, Day N, Trusler P (1993). Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. Ringwood, Victoria: Viking O'Neil. p. 392. ISBN 0-670-90478-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "ABBBS Database Search: Entomyzon cyanotis (Blue-faced Honeyeater)". Australian Bird & Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS). Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Commonwealth of Australia. 13 April 2007. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  17. ^ Higgins, p. 599.
  18. ^ Higgins, p. 600.
  19. ^ Higgins, p. 601.
  20. ^ Longmore, N.W. (1978). "Avifauna of the Rockhampton area, Queensland". Sunbird. 9: 25–53.
  21. ^ Wolstenholme, H. (1925). "Notes on the Birds observed during the Queensland Congress and Camp-out, 1924: Pt II". Emu. 24 (4): 243–251.
  22. ^ Barker RD, Vestjens WJM (1984). The Food of Australian Birds. Melbourne University Press. pp. 195–96. ISBN 0-643-05006-X.
  23. ^ a b Beruldsen, G (2003). Australian Birds: Their Nests and Eggs. Kenmore Hills, Qld: self. p. 314. ISBN 0-646-42798-9.
  24. ^ Higgins, p. 604.
  25. ^ White, Henry J. (1922). "An Abnormal Clutch of Blue-face Honey Eater's Eggs (Entomyza cyanotis harterti)". Emu (1): 3.
  26. ^ a b Atchison, N. (1992). "Breeding blue-faced honeyeaters at Taronga Zoo". Australian Aviculture. 46: 29–35.

Cited text

  • Higgins, P.J., J.M. Peter & W.K. Steele (eds) 2001. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 5: Tyrant-flycatchers to Chats. Oxford University Press, Melbourne. ISBN 0-19-553258-9
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