Black Honeyeater - Chiltern (Victoria)

A late report for the list.

While up at Chiltern around the new year (2 January 2006) I was advised of a Black Honeyeater Certhionyx niger frequenting a small (private) dam on the edge of Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park a few kms from Chiltern township.

We didn't manage to turn up the bird (a male) ourselves but another (reliable) birdo reported it was present for a day at least at this location.

The Atlas of Victorian Birds (1987) has the following to say (in part) about the species in Victoria.

'Black Honeyeaters are inland Australian birds that are sporadic spring and summer visitors to arid and semi-arid areas of far north-western Victoria.  They occur most often in emu-bush flats under Slender Cypress Pine woodlands and in White and Dumosa Mallee scrubs....'

The Atlas of Victorian Wildlife currently has 109 records of the species and the distribution of Victorian records now covers central as well as most of northern Victoria with a few records from around Melbourne.

I've encouraged the observers to forward the sighting to the Atlas of Victorian Wildlife.

Martin O'Brien
Threatened Species & Communities Section
Department of Sustainability and Environment
2/8 Nicholson St. (PO Box 500), East Melbourne  3002

Tel: 9637 9869
(prefixes: Interstate 03 International 613)
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