Notes on New Holland Honeyeater

This species seems to be establishing itself rather more in the area than in the past.   Since I started compiling this information in February 2007 records are available for 82 months and New Holland Honeyeaters (NHHE) have been reported in 24 (29%) of these months.

 This chart show that the NHHE are most commonly reported in late Autumn and early Spring, suggesting that it passes through the area on migration.  I am not sure about this proposal since my impression is that in the past the sightings for the species tend to be very sporadic (typically 1 observation per month) and restricted to a small part of the study area.  I believe that until 2012 nearly all the observations were from Forbes Creek or a property near Rossi (both right on the edge of the study area).

An alternative explanation is that the birds are exploiting nectar rich flowers.  At the site near Rossi the birds are always seen near flowering Grevillea sp while at Forbes Creek (and the more recent site at Widgiewa Rd) Banksia sp seem to be the attractants.

In my experience in the ACT the species could be observed in 3 situations:

• The high country - around 100m -  feeding on Silver Banksias (B. marginata);
• Australian National Botanic Gardens feeding on many of the Banksias and Grevilleas there (this was, and still is, the 'hotspot); and
• A number of dense plantings of Grevillea sp esp G.rosmarinifolia around Lake Burley Griffin and the Molonglo River.

This is pretty much the situation shown in the Bird Atlas of the ACT (sadly, now out of print) referring to the mid-late 1980s.   Taking a slightly wider view and current to this date, the birdata project of Birdlife Australia has this map.

The records for the ACT largely conform to the expected pattern - I believe the set of records to the SW of the urban area represent Grevilleas along the Murrumbidgee - and show the spread of sightings along the ranges in this area.  The more recent records are in the middle of the gap directly North of Captains Flat.

So why are the birds appearing in this 'new' area?  A very good question!  I will hypothesise that it reflects several years of pretty good rainfall leading to an outbreak of natural flowering of the native Grevilleas (both G. alpina and G lanigera occur in the area) and Banksias (notably B marginata) getting the birds closer to our area.  They then encounter plantings in lucky people's gardens.