The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family of small to medium sized birds most common in Australia and New Guinea, but also found in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Samoa and Tonga, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea. One of their special characteristics is a highly developed brush-tipped tongue with which they take up nectar from flowers. However, nectar is only one of their foods most also eat insects, and some eat more insects than nectar, many also feed on pollen, berries and sugary exudates (e.g. sap) of plants as well as the sugary secretions of plant bugs.
A great many Australian plants are fertilised by honeyeaters, particularly the Banksias, Grevilleas, Myrtles and Eucalypts, these plants and honeyeaters have evolved together over millions of years and have developed a reciprocal dependence on each other.
We have many species here on the Capricorn Coast and I will be featuring them regularly in this column, the photo is of a Brown Honeyeater, Lichmera indistincta, which is widespread in Australia, from Western Australia across the Top End to Queensland and through New South Wales. They are about 12cm long and in our area are very common, you’ll find them in your garden, out walking or on the way to school, I can even hear their clear, ringing, musical: 'twit, twit, twhitchit' as I write this article.