Honeyeaters

[Lawrie Conole <>]

A.S. Katon wrote:

Today I saw 3 species of honeyeater, the Brown-headed, Eastern Spinebill and the Lewin's within a few minutes, probing the same area on a Eucalyptus tree. On closer inspection of the tree, the area they were interested in was a damaged area with visible sap. Do fellow birders know wether honeyeaters consume tree sap or were they possibly just looking for insects.

 

Hi Anthony

I've seen this kind of thing in the Otway Ranges of SW Victoria around
feeding incisions made by the Yellow-bellied Glider [YBG] (Petaurus australis),
and various people have reported similar things from other tree wounds.  I
saw Brown-headed, White-naped, Yellow-faced, White-eared, New Holland and
Crescent Honeyeaters, plus Eastern Spinebill, Red and Little Wattlebirds
- the wattlebirds seem to find it such a useful resource that they defend
it from other birds!!  There was a paper in Emu a couple of years back, describing
the range of birds using YBG incisions in wet sclerophyll forest on the Atherton
Tableland in FNQ.

My observations suggest the birds actually consume the sap - though undoubtedly
they pick up a few insects which are also attracted to the sugary sap.

L.


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Lawrie Conole
Senior Ecologist
Ornithology & Terrestrial Ecology
 
Ecology Australia Pty. Ltd.
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