“Our” Crescent Honeyeater was joined by a second bird this morning, and the two
spent a few minutes chasing each other around the garden. This may or may not
be connected to one of the birds being much more vocal outside our bedroom
window this morning. I posted a recording of the call on Canberra Nature Map
earlier today.
John
> On 6 Jun 2026, at 2:23 pm, Philip Veerman <> wrote:
>
> John and others:
>
> For what it is worth, this is the text on the species in Th GBS Report.
>
> Crescent Honeyeater Phylidonyris pyrrhoptera
> This honeyeater is usually very active and noisy as it feeds in low bushes.
> It is only recorded singly or in small groups. Unlike similar species, the
> sexes differ in appearance, and unlike most honeyeaters, it is not a social
> bird. It is said to require a water source in a garden area to keep it
> around, also requires some dense cover and a good stock of flowering bushes
> such as Grevillea. This species sometimes joins in the honeyeater migration.
> In April they are just coming down from the high country. It shows the
> typical altitudinal migrant’s pattern, is almost totally absent from November
> to March, with many of those months having no observations. It arrives in
> April and builds up to a peak in July then declines through to November. The
> abundance fluctuated, with a big peak in the middle years of the survey,
> across a whole range of sites. The numbers in 1990 were approximately five
> times the average of most other years and it reached A=0.22 in July. The
> breeding record is a dependent young mid October Year 9 at Site 32.
> Graphs on page: 99, Rank: 70, Breeding Rank: 75, A = 0.02801, F = 13.16%, W =
> 22.3, R = 2.000%, G = 1.40.
>
>
> The species appears to now be a much less frequent visitor to suburban
> Canberra than it was in the years covered by the GBS Report (which needs
> updating). At that time, it was a fairly regular visitor to my place in
> winter but not for several years. Although I have encountered then in
> Wanniassa since then.
>
> Philip
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Canberrabirds On Behalf Of John Brannan via Canberrabirds
> Sent: Friday, 5 June, 2026 1:36 PM
> To:
> Cc: John Brannan <>
> Subject: [Canberrabirds] Definite Crescent Honeyeater in Florey
>
> The Crescent Honeyeater was back just now, perched in clear view on a dead
> branch in the back garden. It was making a repeated “jik-jik” call and
> hawking for insects.
>
> John Brannan
>
>> I got a few quick glimpses of a bird rummaging round in our grevilleas
>> yesterday — a bit of yellow on the wings and a view of the breast with the
>> characteristic black crescents down each side of a grey breast (not the
>> white/fawn colour of a spinebill). I’d also heard an unfamiliar call in the
>> garden earlier, just a single harsh “jik” that matches the winter call of
>> the Crescent. Haven’t seen or heard it today, so I suspect it has already
>> moved on.
>>
>> John Brannan
>
>
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