Painted Honeyeater Grantiella picta

Length 14–15 cm; wingspan c. 16 cm; weight 21.5 g.

Often occurring singly or in twos, and less often in small flocks, the Painted Honeyeater is closely associated with the fruiting of mistletoe.  The species feeds mostly on mistletoe fruits, but also on nectar and insects in the canopy of trees, as well as sallying for flying insects.  Though often quiet, Painted Honeyeaters sometimes call noisily throughout the day.  When flying from tree to tree, often well above canopy, Painted Honeyeaters often call as they go, and repeatedly fan their tails, exposing the large white tips on their outer tail-feathers.  To establish territories, males call from the treetops, then fly upwards, almost vertically, calling all the while, and then descending rapidly to another tree.

HABITAT
Painted Honeyeaters are strongly associated with a variety of species of mistletoe (such as Drooping, Box, Needle-leaf, Grey and Wire-Leaf Mistletoes), and they inhabit various dry open woodlands and forests which support these arboreal parasites.  Such suitable habitats are mainly in box–ironbark woodlands and forests dominated by species such as Red Ironbark, Mugga Ironbark, Yellow Box, Broad-leaved Peppermint or Red Stringybark, which may occur as scattered trees on plains or as remnant trees on farmland.  They are also sometimes recorded in River Red Gum and Black Box woodlands.  Painted Honeyeaters also occur in mixed box–casuarina woodlands, especially those dominated by Yellow Gum with Buloke or Belah, in cypress-pine woodlands, riparian River Sheoak forests, and, occasionally, in stands of acacias such as Myall, Prickly Wattle, Mulga, Brigalow or Silver Wattle.

DISTRIBUTION
Endemic to eastern mainland Australia, occurring mainly in the south-east.

STATUS

• Rare in Queensland
• Vulnerable in New South Wales
• Vulnerable in Victoria
• Rare in South Australia

THREATS
Populations of the Painted Honeyeater have probably undergone a long-term decline, which is likely to have been accelerated by the clearance of trees for agriculture, and a lack of regeneration resulting from the grazing of introduced herbivores, such as livestock and rabbits.  Much habitat that is used by the Honeyeaters for breeding has become degraded, but the species may have benefited from an increase in the abundance of mistletoe growing in areas of degraded woodland.

MOVEMENTS
Not clearly known.  The movements of the Painted Honeyeater are generally described as a north–south migration, as the species is considered seasonal visitor to many areas: it is considered a non-breeding winter visitor to areas north of 26°S, and a breeding spring–summer visitor to areas south of 26 S.  It has also been described as an irregular visitor or a nomad in some areas. Its movements, and thus its presence in an area, are sometimes linked with the fruiting of mistletoe.  Males are said to arrive in the breeding areas at least 2 weeks before the females arrive; and young birds are said to migrate with their parents.

Return to Previous Page