a spiny-cheeked honeyeater - a photo on Flickriver

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Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater - love the emu bush flowers.
Scientific Name: Acanthagenys rufogularis
Description: The medium-sized Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater has a grey crown scalloped brown, a mottled grey-brown back, a white cheek with spiny bristles to below the ear, and an orange-brown throat and chest. The underparts are white, streaked brown, the wings are grey, with white-edged feathers, and the long tail is dark grey-brown with white tips. The pale blue-grey eye is surrounded by bare pinkish skin and the pink bill has a black tip. Young birds are browner and have yellow cheek spines. Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters are sociable and aggressive, and are often seen or heard in large flocks, foraging high in trees.
Similar species: The Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater looks like a small wattlebird, but has a distinctive orange chest and throat, white cheek spines and a bicoloured (pink and black) bill.
Distribution: The Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater is found across mainland Australia, especially in the arid interior, reaching the coast from Esperance, Western Australia to Melbourne, Victoria. It is also found on Kangaroo Island. It is absent from the east coast, and is not found in the northern tropics from the Kimberley region, Western Australia to Cape York, Queensland.
Habitat: The Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater is found in dry woodlands, mallee and acacia scrub, especially with a porcupine grass understorey. Also found in coastal scrubs, woodlands along rivers and, occasionally, mangroves. May be found in orchards.
Seasonal movements: Sedentary in the south of its range, partially migratory in the north.
Feeding: The Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater feeds mainly on nectar and fruit, but may also eat insects, reptiles and baby birds. It forages in the dense foliage and outer branches of trees, but may sometimes feed on the ground or take insects in the air. Around Barcaldine, they love the emu bush flowers, and come in droves when it is flowering, as do other honeyeaters.
Breeding: The Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater builds a deep, suspended, cup-shaped nest of plant fibres and grasses bound with spider webs and lined with soft materials, which is placed from 1 m to 13 m from the ground. The female incubates the eggs alone, but both sexes feed and care for the young.
Calls: Gargling or bubbling notes and whistles; also, single loud 'tock'. Can mimic other species.
Minimum Size: 23cm
Maximum Size: 26cm
Average size: 24cm
Average weight: 52g
Breeding season: June to January; can breed year round.
Clutch Size: 2 to 3
Incubation: 14 days
Nestling Period: 15 days
(Source: www.birdsinbackyards.net)

© Chris Burns 2020
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This image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopying and recording without my written consent.

Taken in: Australia / Queensland / Barcaldine (show map)

Taken on: October 5, 2017

Tags:

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater

Acanthagenys rufogularis

Australian bird

fauna

Australian fauna

honeyeater

Nikon D500

Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports

Lagoon Creek

Barcaldine

Queensland

Australia

nature

outdoors « less

Sets appears in: • Barcaldine Birds • Birds

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Camera: Nikon D500, f/9.0, 1/320 sec, 600mm (=900mm), ISO 320 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D500
Lens:	150.0-600.0 mm f/5.0-6.3
Aperture:	f/9.0
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/320)
Focal Length:	600mm (35mm equivalent: 900mm)
ISO:	320
Exposure Bias:	-1/3 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 21.2 (Windows)
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