Red-headed Myzomela
Myzomela erythrocephala· 吸蜜鸟科(5 photos)
Red-headed Myzomela
11-13 cm. Male: red head/neck/rump cut off by dark brown wings/back and dark grey underparts. Female and Immature: brown, washed red on forehead/throat. Pairs, companies at blossoms: darting, flicks tail, sallies after insects.
- Other name
- Red-headed Honeyeater.
- Similar Species
- Dusky, Brown, Scarlet Honeyeaters.
- Voice
- repetitive, metallic, jingling song (Hall, 1974). Contact-call: harsh 'chiew-chiew'; female, sibilant squeak.
- Habitat
- mangroves, monsoon forests, vine-scrubs, blossoming eucalypt woodlands; paperbarks, watercourse-vegetation, parks, gardens.
- Breeding
- March-Sept.
- Nest
- cup of fine bark strips, spiders' web, leaves; lined with bark, rootlets; in leafy branch of mangrove to 12 m over water.
- Eggs
- 2; whitish, with fine red spots, blotches.
- Range & Status
- coastal tropical nw. and n. Aust. and islands: from Broome (WA) to C. Melville, e. C. York Pen. (Q); inland to c. Katherine Gorge (NT). Common. Sedentary; local nomadic movements. Also w. Torres Strait, PNG, e. Indonesia.
- Distribution key to races
- 1. Myzomela erythrocephala erythrocephala 2. Myzomela erythrocephala infuscata
