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Australian Wildlife

  Brown Honeyeater (Lichmera indistincta)





Brown Honeyeater | Lichmera indistincta photo
Brown Honeyeater, Moreton Island, Australia

Image by Glen Fergus - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







BROWN HONEYEATER FACTS

Description
Plain brown, with a small area of yellow behind the eye; wing and tail feathers edged yellow. Rear edge of bill (gape) yellow; black in breeding males. Juveniles similar to adults, with less yellow behind the eye.

One of the Top End's commonest honeyeaters, occurring in singles, pairs and groups. Resident in many areas, but some birds make seasonal migrations or move irregularly in response to food abundance. Often noisy and active, it forages mostly in canopy for invertebrates and nectar. Roosts at night in trees or shrubs. Across its range it breeds at different times. A cup-shaped nest is built from bark fibre, grass or similar materials bound with spider web, being about 6 cm wide and 5 cm deep on the outside, usually in the foliage of a tree or shrub. Eggs are whitish, pinkish or brownish, unmarked or spotted with reddish or brownish colours. Clutch size 1-3, normally 2. Incubation lasts around 2 weeks. Both parents feed the chicks. The young leave the nest after around 2 weeks.

Author credit: Lindley McKay

Habitat
Forests and shrublands, gardens. Abundant in suburban Darwin.

Food
Omnivore

Range
Across Australia.

distribution map showing range of Lichmera indistincta in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.


Species Description is from Museums Field Guide, Atlas of Living Australia at website at https://lists.ala.org.au Licensed under Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.




Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Passeriformes
Family:Meliphagidae
Genus:Lichmera
Species:indistincta
Common Name:Brown Honeyeater