Strong-billed Honeyeater
(Photograph by Dave Watts)
Description
The endemic Strong-billed Honeyeater has a black head with a distinctive white crescent across
the back of the neck which leads to a white-blue crescent just above the eye. The chin and throat are white.
The upperparts are olive-grey to green above and the underparts a dull
grey-green.
Habitat
The Strong-billed Honeyeater is a common resident in mature, wet forest, cool temperate rainforest, wet scrub and heath, and occasionally in parks and gardens throughout Tasmania. It sometimes moves to drier habitats during the winter months.
Diet
Can be seen moving up and down the trunks of trees probing beneath bark and into crevices on branches to find insects. It will also eat nectar and
fallen fruits on occasions.
Breeding
The species breeds from September, and lays two to three spotted
pinkish eggs. The nest is a deep cup built of bark strips, grasses and hairs, lined with fibre from tree ferns and animal hair. It is placed among branches in the sub-canopy. Both parents incubate and feed the young, with other adults
sometimes helping with feeding and defence of the nest.
Call
Its call is a loud single, double or repeated "cheep".
Distribution
Found in suitable habitat throughout Tasmania.