Pied Honeyeater
Certhionyx variegatus· 吸蜜鸟科(2 photos)
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Pied Honeyeater
15-18 cm. Male: note arched blue-grey bill, blue-grey wattle under eye, black throat; white wingbar, rump, tail panels and underparts. Female: grey-brown above with faint pale eyebrow; smaller wattle; strong 'netted' pattern on wings; whitish underparts streaked darker. Pairs, parties: in blossoming eremophilas, hakeas, grevilleas, mistletoes, eucalypts; nervous, flicks tail. Courting males call incessantly; fly with quivering wings; rise steeply, dive bomblike, tail fanned.
- Similar Species
- Black Honeyeater. White-winged Triller.
- Voice
- courting males emit incessant high-pitched, morse code-like 'peepee-pee-pee' or 'pee-peepee-pee'.
- Habitat
- arid scrublands, mulga, mallee-spinifex, flowering shrubs/trees, eucalypt woodlands.
- Breeding
- Sept.-Nov., or after rain.
- Nest
- untidy cup of grass, twigs, spiders' web; in fork of shrub, tree to 5 m.
- Eggs
- 2-3 (4); pale fawn, blotched pale grey; clustered blackish spots.
- Range & Status
- arid interior, e. to c. Q-NSW, to w. coast c. Port Hedland-Geraldton (WA); s. to Nullarbor Plain-Murray mallee (SA); casual nw. Vic. Patchy, irregular. Locally common; highly nomadic.
