Males arrive a few weeks before females, and select potential nesting territories. There is further useful information in the recovery plan, mentioning climate change and Noisy
Miners. This document is quite readable, I think -
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/recovery-plan-painted-honeyeater.pdf
I have a copy of the PhD dissertation by Laurence Barea, whom I met at Binya SF, famous annual haunt of this honeyeater. Level of conservation concern has recently been downgraded.
This species had a kind of monument to its nesting site fidelity. Among Canberrans, it had a reputation for returning to the mistletoes on the casuarinas at Uriarra Crossing. An
elaborate little plaque was erected there to convey this information to the visiting public. The plaque was destroyed in fires, in 2003, I think. Painted Honeyeaters are still seen there occasionally. I remember an attempted nesting a few years ago a bit
further downstream. I may be wrong but I think that particular mistletoe species is the one that supports the nectar-feeding Regent Honeyeaters at Capertee Valley. There is an excellent book on Australian mistletoes by Dave Watson.
From: Julie Hotchin <>
Sent: Sunday, 18 October 2026 12:39 PM
To: Geoffrey Dabb <>
Cc: Canberrabirds <>
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] Painted Honeyeater
Thanks for these images of the nesting Painted Honeyeaters, Geoffrey, and for the insights into the unique way they spread mistletoe berries. It's good to learn a little more about these rare visitors to our region.
I have a question about the geographical movements of this species that you - or others on this list - may be able to shed some light on. I'm intrigued by the fact that this year they returned to the same gracious, large old yellow box
in Campbell Park where they were recorded in October and November 2020. Do we know anything about their site-fidelity? Or, is the popularity of this old tree more likely to be a coincidence as the birds are attracted to a site with suitable large Among rainfall
might affect their movements, or is the search for mistletoe the determining factor? Which then begs the question about how rainfall affects mistletoe fruiting . . .
I welcome any thoughts about this.
Cheers,
Julie
On Sat, 17 Oct 2026 at 10:56, Geoffrey Dabb via Canberrabirds <> wrote:
I found some primitive video of the successful nesting here in 2002. This was obtained for a little video project about the theory that the Painted Honeyeater
was an important spreader of mistletoe in Gondwana before the arrival of the Mistletoebird. The point was that the adults need a special ability to make use of mistletoe berries as food for the young, because of the long sticky threads of excreted berries.
The shortlegged Mistletoebird has a different technique related to different nest construction, perhaps different digestive process. In 2002 young were fed insects in first few days including small cicadas. After leaving nest young remained here for only
one day before the family moved off.
--
This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra Ornithologists Group.
Emails posted to the list that exceed 2 MB (2,000 kB) in size, including attachments, will be rejected.
All emails distributed via the list are archived at
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds. It is a condition of list membership that you agree to your contributions being archived.
Canberrabirds mailing list
https://lists.canberrabirds.org.au/mailman/listinfo/canberrabirds
