Little Wattlebirds in Victor Harbor
13 Comments »4th May, 2007; Category: Honeyeaters
A few days ago I wrote about our recent trip to Victor Harbor in South Australia I also wrote about the beautiful birds I saw feeding in the Bottlebrush (Callistemon spp) bushes and trees in the street where we parked.
In amongst all the Musk Lorikeet parrots on a feeding frenzy were a few Little Wattlebirds. There are several species of Wattlebirds native to Australia. The most common species around home here in Murray Bridge are the Red Wattlebirds. I have quite a few photos of this species but the Little Wattlebird has so far eluded me – until now. They were so intent on feeding that they took little notice of me and the camera only two or three metres away.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Little Wattlebird
Distribution:
Little Wattlebirds are found throughout coastal south eastern Australia from near Brisbane through to Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It is also found throughout Tasmania. Race lunulata, also known as the Brush Wattlebird, is found in south west Western Australia.
Habitat:
Little Wattlebirds prefer similar habitats to its slightly larger cousin, the Red Wattlebird. It can often be found in parks and gardens, woodlands with eucalypts and banksias, tea-tree scrubs and heathlands.
Breeding:
Little Wattlebirds nest in the latter half of the year, often in the spring. They lay 1 or 2 salmon pink eggs with reddish spots. The nest is a loose untidy cup of twigs, bark, and other plant materials.
A Confession:
I am on record on the Birding-Aus forum as saying that I consider the Little Wattlebird to be the most unattractive Australian bird. When I see this species up close, and look at the lovely photo above, I confess that I need to retract that statement. In its own way it is quite an attractive bird. It will never compete with the Superb Blue Wren or some of our finches, for example, but it is certainly not unattractive.
Noisy – yes, but not unattractive.
Singing Honeyeaters and native plants
The Singing Honeyeater is a common species in suitable habitat throughout much of Australia. It tends to be absent only from the eastern coastal areas, most of Victoria (except the south coast), and the far north of Queensland and the Northern Territory. It’s preferred habitats include mallee scrubs, mulga, roadside vegetation, orchards, vineyards and gardens. It tends to be rather solitary in habit. On occasions I have seen small loose flocks of up to four or five birds, usually where the vegetation is dense, for example, coastal dunes.
Resident Breeding species
The Singing Honeyeater is a resident breeding species in our garden. Their numbers never seem to go over about four or five on our 2 hectare (5 acre) block of land. The dominant plant species is mallee scrub (click here for a photo). They were perhaps more numerous more than ten years ago, but in recent times the New Holland Honeyeaters have become the dominant – and very bossy – species.
Updated November 2013
Singing Honeyeater
Eremophila glabra
The resident Singing Honeyeaters are regular visitors to our bird baths. I don’t think I’ve seen them actually bathing in the water; they just tend to come for a drink. Next to the bird bath is a sprawling bush called Eremophila glabra. In the photo this plant has the bright red tube-shaped flowers. (Click on the photo to enlarge). The honeyeaters frequently stay for five minutes or more feeding on these flowers. A quick return trip to the water for a drink and then they are off to feed elsewhere.
Dripper systems
In the photo you will observe a black hose in front of the bird. This is part of our watering system. We have installed many hundreds of metres of similar hoses throughout our garden and orchard. Wherever there is a plant we place a dripper. Each dripper then allows a steady stream of drips to the plant when the tap is turned on. We have timers on each tap which then turn off the water to the dripper hoses after a set time, usually one or two hours.
Severe drought
Many Australian gardeners have recently moved to this system because of the severe drought we are experiencing. Many areas are on severe water restrictions. In some places you cannot even use dripper systems like this one. We have certainly done our bit to conserve water because we’ve been using drippers for over 20 years. Most people are only installing them now.
Plants in our garden
For more photos and information about the plants in our garden and in our district go to Mallee Native Plants Nursery, my wife’s blog about our beautiful Australian plants.
Eremophila splendens
Another unusual visitor to our bird bath
3 Comments »24th February, 2007; Category: Animals, Bird baths, Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Honeyeaters
In recent times I have written about the behaviour of various species of birds at the bird baths we have in our garden. The birds give us many hours of entertainment as they come to drink and bathe. The very hot weather we have been having this summer helps to encourage their frequent visits.
I also wrote recently about some unusual visitors to the bird baths, a Stumpy Tail Lizard and a Red Fox.
A few days ago I was alerted to the alarm calls of a flock of New Holland Honeyeaters near the bird bath. I quietly went to have a look. The NHHEs were soon joined by several Singing Honeyeaters and a family of White Browed Babblers. All were calling madly and looking at the ground near a bush.
I waited for a few moments, fully expecting a Brown Snake (highly venomous) to emerge from the undergrowth. I had my camera at the ready and my feet ready to take off if a hasty retreat was in order.
To my great relief it was only a Blue Tongue Lizard. With the stripes on the back and tail, and a thin, long snake-like tail we have often been fooled into thinking we have a Tiger Snake (also quite venomous) in the garden. (They actually look nothing like a Tiger Snake; it’s the stripes that catch you by surprise every time.)
The new visitor didn’t wait to have a drink. A slight movement from me sent it slithering – almost snake-like – into the undergrowth again.
Related articles:
- Some unusual visitors to our birth bath – with photos.
- Time for a bath – with more photos
Updated November 2103
Blue Tongue Lizard
Birds and Communal Bathing
New Holland Honeyeaters
Our bird baths give us many hours of delightful birding. Quite often the honeyeaters come in numbers to bathe communally. When this happens with the New Holland Honeyeaters are often the first – and the bossiest – species to take advantage of the water. Sometimes there can be between five and eight individuals bathing and squawking noisily. With the Brown-headed Honeyeaters the number can be as many as twelve to fifteen at once, but they are very polite and take it in turns to bathe.
During the hot weather we have had this summer the bird baths need frequent replenishing. The water is splashed in all directions. They obviously haven’t heard that we currently have severe water restrictions due to the drought. On one hot day we actually had five species present at the bath at the one time: New Holland, White-plumed and Singing Honeyeaters, House Sparrow and a Spotted Pardalote. Soon after a Red Wattlebird (which is also a species of honeyeater) joined the communal bathing.
More recently I have observed a large family of about a dozen White-winged Choughs coming to bathe and drink together.
The photos on this page are better viewed by clicking on them to enlarge.
This article was update on September 20th 2015.
Further reading:
- Time for a bath – a long list of birds and animals using our bird baths
- White-winged Choughs at our bird baths
- Blue-tongue Lizard comes to our bird bath
New Holland Honeyeaters
Caring for a baby honeyeater
From time to time people encounter baby birds that have fallen from a nest or have been abandoned by their parents for whatever reason. Most people are keen to care for the little one but they usually have little idea of how to go about this.
Adelaide writer of crime and romance fiction Kirsty Brooks is one such person. She has had the delight of looking after a White Plumed Honeyeater from early in its life. This bird now brings her much delight, living in her house together with her pet Cockatiel parrot. Her heart warming and humourous account can be read by clicking on the link below.
Link:
- My advice on caring for a baby honeyeater by Kirsty Brooks.
White Plumed Honeyeater