Pied honeyeater facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Pied honeyeater
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Distribution of pied honeyeater

The pied honeyeater (Certhionyx variegatus) is a special type of bird found in Australia. It belongs to the honeyeater family, called Meliphagidae. This bird is the only species in its group, Certhionyx. People also call it the black and white honeyeater or western pied honeyeater.

This bird lives only in Australia. It is listed as a vulnerable species in New South Wales, which means it needs protection.

About the Pied Honeyeater

What Does It Look Like?

The pied honeyeater has a long, curved beak. It also has a small, light blue patch of skin under its eye. This patch is shaped like a half-circle on males and an arc on females and young birds.

Male pied honeyeaters are black and white. Their head, neck, and upper body are black. They have a white lower back and upper tail. Their wings are black with a white stripe. Their belly is white, and their tail has a black tip.

Female pied honeyeaters are brown on top. They have a grey-white chin and a whitish chest with dark-brown streaks and spots. Their belly is white, and they have a white stripe along the edges of their wing feathers.

Size and Sound

An adult pied honeyeater weighs about 27 g (0.95 oz). This makes it a medium-sized honeyeater. Its body is usually between 15 and 20 cm (5.9 and 7.9 in) long. Its wings can spread out between 25 and 29 cm (9.8 and 11.4 in). Its long, pointed wings help it fly across large parts of Australia.

The pied honeyeater's call sounds like a sad whistle. It is similar to the sound of the little grassbird. During the time they lay eggs, they make a "melancholy piping note."

Similar Birds

The black honeyeater looks a bit like the pied honeyeater. However, the black honeyeater has a different call. It is also smaller, with a thinner beak and a shorter tail. It does not have the bare skin patch around its eye. Male black honeyeaters have a clear stripe down their chest. Female black honeyeaters have plainer wings and fewer streaks on their chest.

Where They Live and Travel

Where They Are Found

In the early 1900s, the pied honeyeater was found across the southern half of Australia. Today, it is mainly seen in a wide area below about 18 degrees South latitude. This area stretches from central Queensland, central New South Wales, and central Victoria in the east, all the way to the coast of Western Australia.

How They Move Around

Pied honeyeaters are often called "desert nomads." This means they move around a lot. They can be found in one place for a while, or they might suddenly appear in large numbers far from their usual areas. This often happens after heavy rains, especially after dry periods.

Scientists don't fully understand their movements. There isn't a clear pattern to when or how many birds appear in an area. Their movements might depend on when certain plants, like the emu-bush, are flowering. They might also move to find enough insects to eat, especially when they need to lay eggs.

Some pied honeyeaters travel seasonally, especially in coastal north-western Australia. They are common visitors in winter after the first heavy rains. Some birds stay in one place, but most are seen moving around.

Pied honeyeaters don't seem to need much open water. Their location in the landscape doesn't always depend on how close they are to water sources.

Their Home Environment

The pied honeyeater lives in dry and semi-dry areas. You can find them on sandhills in inland plains, in inland mountain ranges, and on granite rocks. They also live on coastal sandhills in Western Australia.

They like shrublands and woodlands. Shrublands often have emu bush and grevilleas. Woodlands mostly have mulga trees. Their homes might also include river red gum trees along rivers. You might also find them near Casuarina and Myoporum trees along dry riverbeds and dry salt lakes.

Pied honeyeaters also live in grasslands with spinifex plants. These areas often have scattered mulga, Casuarina, and bloodwood trees.

Pied Honeyeater Behaviour

Social Life and Habits

Not much is known about how pied honeyeaters live together. This is partly because they move around so much. They are also known to be very nervous, shy, and quick. They are often seen alone or in pairs.

However, old records show that pied honeyeaters sometimes fly in large groups. They have been seen in flocks of 50 or more, and even hundreds. These seasonal flocks sometimes fly with other birds. These include black honeyeaters, crimson chats, black-faced woodswallows, and masked woodswallows. Pied honeyeaters have also been seen eating with black honeyeaters, white-plumed honeyeaters, and yellow-throated miners.

Flight Displays

During the time they are looking for a mate, pairs of pied honeyeaters sometimes fly into the air together. They "loop and loop" in the sky. A male might fly high into the air from a treetop, singing. Then, it might suddenly drop, turning backward as it falls. Males showing off their territory will also fly straight up, singing. Their flying actions are similar to the black honeyeater. Their flight is also said to look like that of the regent honeyeater, which is a bird that is in danger of disappearing.

What They Eat and How They Find Food

Pied honeyeaters mainly eat nectar from flowers. But they also eat insects, fruit, and seeds. They use their long beaks to explore flowers and leaves on trees and shrubs. They especially like Emu bush plants and different types of eucalypts and Grevilleas.

They have been seen eating from lignum, flowering turpentine, and tobacco-bush plants. They also eat seeds from harlequin fuchsia-bush and turpentine. When scientists have looked at what's in their stomachs, they found seeds, berries, grit, and insects.

In the Australian desert, honeyeaters often need to drink water. Pied honeyeaters are known to drink water in the summer. They have been seen drinking on more than half the days when the temperature was over 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit).

Reproduction and Life Cycle

A pied honeyeater nest with eggs

The pied honeyeater's usual time for laying eggs is from June to November. Nests with eggs are most often found in August and September. However, they have been known to lay eggs in March in central and northern Australia. This usually happens after heavy rains.

Both male and female pied honeyeaters help build the nest. They also take turns sitting on the eggs and taking care of the young birds. Nests can be built and eggs laid within just 3 days.

Nests are built in low shrubs or trees. These can include mulga, cork bark, or sandalwood trees. They might also be built on top of thick climbing plants. Nests are usually about 1.2 to 1.5 m (3.9 to 4.9 ft) above the ground.

The nest is an open, deep, cup-shaped structure. It is well-made from small twigs or short grass stems, like spinifex. It is held together with spider webs. The nest might be placed on thin twigs at the end of a branch or where several thin, leafy stems meet. It hangs by its rim.

The eggs are about 1.6 cm (0.6 in) wide and 2.4 cm (0.9 in) long. They can be oval or long and rounded. The shell is smooth and usually not shiny. It is a dull white color with small blackish-brown spots and freckles spread evenly over it. There are also faint bluish-grey marks underneath.

Challenges and Predators

Not much is known about how pied honeyeaters compete with other birds or what animals hunt them. However, white-plumed honeyeaters and yellow-throated miners sometimes bother them in tree branches.

Birds that hunt during the day, like the brown goshawk, collared sparrowhawk, and Australian hobby, are a threat to desert birds. These predators might be why desert birds try to drink water only when absolutely necessary.

Protecting the Pied Honeyeater

Conservation Status

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the pied honeyeater as least concern. This is because it lives across a very large area, and its population size seems stable. However, scientists haven't counted exactly how many there are.

The pied honeyeater faces threats that affect large areas, like losing its habitat or its home becoming damaged. The government used to have a plan to manage these birds. This plan included protecting areas with lots of nectar-producing trees and shrubs from farm animals. It also aimed to create information to help people care about these birds. It is not clear if these studies are still happening.

It is hard to know if the number of nomadic birds is changing. This is because they move around so much. When large groups gather at places with lots of food, it might seem like there are many birds. But their total numbers might be smaller than they appear.

See also

In Spanish: Mielero pío para niños