This species shows the least regular pattern of all the honeyeaters but that
may be related to sampling problems. It has its greatest population density in
coastal heaths where it can be superabundant. It is very active, sociable and
noisy and unlikely to be missed. Locally populations are found at the Australian
National Botanic Gardens, where diverse plantings of Grevillea and other
natives provide constant food sources. It also occurs along the Murrumbidgee
River Corridor and other sites, where there are large stands of suitable shrubs.
This species can survive as individuals for some time and even breed as isolated
pairs in the suburbs and there are many such records. However, it is the
occurrence of large groups that contribute the greater part to the measured
abundance. In our region it appears to show two patterns that are superimposed.
It has the winter peak and summer minimum of most small honeyeaters but on top
of that it has a marked late summer to autumn peak as well. There is even the
impression from some sites where they are recorded regularly that there is a gap
in their occurrence between the winter and summer peaks. This results in the odd
arrangement of lows during spring and autumn having similar mid-range abundance
to summer. Abundance has varied widely. It is reasonable to believe there is
some real effect in this as the populations of these birds naturally fluctuate
according to nectar availability. Interpreting GBS data is complicated by the
changing distributions of both the sites surveyed and the locations of colonies
of this species affecting numbers observed, for this species apparently rather
more than most. The summer peak was greatest in those years that had one or
several sites at the Australian National University (Acton) that is near to the
Australian National Botanic Gardens and so is influenced by that large
population.
All three breeding records include activities with young in the nest and
dependent young. The duration 5 to 7 weeks is consistent but the timing of these
events is diverse. In late November to December in Year 4 and late February to
mid April in Year 5 at Site 105 and mid August to mid September in Year 16 at
Site 152.
Graphs on page: 99, Rank: 75, Breeding Rank: 67,
A = 0.04606, F = 11.71%, W = 28.7,
R = 1.845%,
G = 2.50.
Philip