The yellow-plumed honeyeater (''Ptilotula ornata'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family

Meliphagidae The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Guinea ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, where it inhabits temperate

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s and Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation. The yellow-plumed honeyeater was previously placed in the genus ''

Lichenostomus ''Lichenostomus'' is a genus of honeyeaters endemic to Australia. The genus formerly contained twenty species but it was split after a molecular phylogenetic analysis published in 2011 showed that the genus was polyphyletic. Former members were ...

'', but was moved to ''

Ptilotula ''Ptilotula '' is a genus of honeyeater consisting of species occurring in Australia and Papua New Guinea. The genus consists of six former members of ''Lichenostomus'', and was created after a molecular analysis showed the genus was polyphylet ...

'' after a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analysis, published in 2011, showed that the original genus was

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

Description

The yellow-plumed honeyeater is a medium-sized honeyeater with a relatively long, down-curved black bill, a dark face and a distinctive, upswept yellow neck plume. It has an olive-green head, with a faint yellow line under the dark eye, grey-green upperparts, and heavily streaked grey-brown underparts. Young birds have a yellow bill base and eye-ring. Similar species include

purple-gaped honeyeater The purple-gaped honeyeater (''Lichenostomus cratitius'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to semi-arid southern Australia, where it inhabits Mallee, tall heath and associated low eucalypt woodland.Menkhorst, P., ...

,Tzaros, C. (2021) ''Wildlife of the Box-Ironbark Country.'' 2nd Edition,

CSIRO Publishing CSIRO Publishing is an Australian-based science and technology publisher. It publishes books, journals and magazines across a range of scientific disciplines, including agriculture, chemistry, plant and animal sciences, natural history and envir ...

, Melbourne, Victoria, grey-fronted honeyeater and

fuscous honeyeater The fuscous honeyeater (''Ptilotula fusca'') is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to eastern Australia. The fuscous honeyeater is dull grey-brown to olive-brown above with buffy-grey underparts. The bill is black and th ...

Call

The song is a loud, clear, three-note ''chier wit chier'', often performed before dawn, and by males during display flight.Menkhorst, P., Rogers, D., Clarke, R., Davies, J., Marsack, P., Franklin, K. (2019) ''The Australian Bird Guide: Revised Edition'',

, Melbourne, Victoria,

Distribution

The yellow-plumed honeyeater is endemic to southern mainland Australia, from western New South Wales and Victoria, through South Australia to south-west Western Australia.

Ecology and behaviour

Yellow-plumed Honeyeater (Ptilotula ornata) (8079669037)

The main habitat type for yellow-plumed honeyeater is mallee. They occupy a broader range of habitat in the west of their range, including dry eucalypt woodland and eucalypt open-forest. They occasionally occur outside their usual habitat, such as in

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

and

Callitris ''Callitris'' is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). There are 16 recognized species in the genus, of which 13 are native to Australia and the other three (''C. neocaledonica, C. sulcata'' and ''C. p ...

woodland, and seasonally in flowering red ironbark forest, flowering grey box-

yellow box ''Eucalyptus melliodora'', commonly known as yellow box, honey box or yellow ironbark, is a species of medium-sized to occasionally tall tree that is endemic to south-eastern, continental Australia. It has rough, flaky or fibrous bark on part o ...

woodland. They occur in sedentary, colonial groups, which may relocate in response to harsh conditions. They are noisy and conspicuous, and will jointly defend nesting or feeding territories, by engaging in communal wing quivering displays.

Diet

Yellow-plumed honeyeater are mainly insectivorous, foraging actively mainly in outer and upper foliage, branches and trunks of eucalypts, and taking insects on the wing. They also feed opportunistically on nectar, including from various mallee eucalypts, yellow gum, grey box, red ironbark, and box mistletoe.

Reproduction

Yellow-plumed honeyeaters build an open, cup-shaped nest suspended by the rim from a thin fork or from foliage of mallee eucalypts and other small shrubs. Nests are made from wool, green grass and spider-webs, and lined with wool, grasses, plant-down and brightly-coloured feathers. Both parents feed the young, sometimes with the assistance of helpers. Yellow-plumed honeyeater nests are parasitised by

fan-tailed cuckoo The fan-tailed cuckoo (''Cacomantis flabelliformis'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Taxonomy Six subspecies have been recogni ...

pallid cuckoo The pallid cuckoo (''Cacomantis pallidus'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is found in Australia, with some migration to the islands of Timor and Papua New Guinea. It is between 28 and 33 cm ...

s, Horsfield's bronze-cuckoos and

shining bronze-cuckoo The shining bronze cuckoo (''Chrysococcyx lucidus'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae, found in Australia, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. It was previously also known as ''Chal ...

Conservation actions

Conservation status

The species is listed under the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

as a species of ''Least Concern''.

Protected areas

The yellow-plumed honeyeater occurs in several

protected areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

, including: * South Australia : *

Gluepot Reserve Gluepot Reserve is a private protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia in the gazetted locality of Gluepot, South Australia, Gluepot about north of the town of Waikerie, South Australia, Waikerie. History Gluepot was e ...

* Victoria : *

Greater Bendigo National Park The Greater Bendigo National Park is a national park located in the Loddon Mallee region of Victoria, Australia. The national park was created in 2002 from the former Whipstick State Park, Kamarooka State Park, One Tree Hill Regional Park, Man ...

: * Inglewood Nature Conservation Reserve : * Wychitella Nature Conservation Reserve

References

External links

Photos, audio and video of yellow-plumed honeyeater
from

Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

's Macaulay Library
Recording of yellow-plumed honeyeater
from Graeme Chapman's sound library {{Taxonbar, from=Q27075260 Ptilotula Birds of South Australia Birds described in 1838 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot