Sunday, May 17, 2020

Off With The Birds - New Holland Honeyeater


My bird for today is one of the very common ones that lives in my garden  -  New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae).

These little fellows are very active, unafraid, aggressive towards other honeyeaters and very common in gardens and park.  I am get a lot of pleasure watching their antics in the garden and in flight.

The sexes are alike - mostly black and white streaked, with a bright yellow wing patch and white ringed eyes. They are mainly reliant on nectar, but do eat insects which they catch in mid-air  and are very protective of their feeding grounds. In our garden they like the Banksias, Grevilleas, Salvias and Agapanthus. They have a loud metallic high pitched call and other contact and alarm calls.





                                                      Drying in the sun.






                                                             Best of Friends






Liz Needle  -  linking with "Saturday Critters", "Our World Tuesday", "Wild Bird Wednesday" and "I'd Rather B Birding".






17 comments:

  1. Your special yardbird is beautiful. Strongly beautiful!!
    I thank you for taking time out in your day to show off your birds with us at I'd Rather B Birdin this week.

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    1. Thanks for visiting. He is rather beautiful, even if he is somewhat of a bully to smaller honeyeaters.

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  2. Hello Liz, what a beautiful Honeyeater. It has lovely markings, colors and I love it's eyes. Great photos. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Enjoy your day, wishing you a great new week ahead. PS, thanks for the comment and visit.

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    1. Thanks for visiting. His eyes are certainly a feature.

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  3. This is a species that we saw almost every dat during our visit to Australia in the spring of 2018, and along with Eastern Spinetail, became one of those species we barely turned our heads for. What a beautiful little bird it is though. I would love to see it now!

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    1. David, they are a very common species and they do tend to pose which makes photos easy. The Eastern Spinebill is one of my6 favourites, but not so easy to get good shots of.

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  4. Amazing shots! He is a beauty! Have a great week!

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    1. Thanks for your comment. He is a very easy fellow to get good shots of.

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  5. I've seen honeyeaters on other blogs. Not in real life unfortunately. This one is rather beautiful with a plumage that reminds me of the North American Black and White warbler.

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    1. We get many honeyeaters in Australia. More later. Thanks for visiting.

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  6. What a striking bird! I bet they are very fun to watch.

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  7. They certainly are characters and we get a lot of pleasure from them, especially now we are in semi-isolation.

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  8. Beautiful looking bird. Wonderful photos. Thank you.

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  9. A beautiful little bird with gorgeous marking and I am glad you have them in your garden so you have the joy of watching them often Liz. Stay saf.

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  10. ...Liz, I've never seen this sweet little thing, thanks for sharing.

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  11. awesome captures, this is a beautiful bird!!! the yellow spot is so pretty when it is in flight!!

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  12. A beautiful wee bird that I haven't seen before. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful day.

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