Dark-brown Honeyeater
Encyclopedia
The Grey-eared Honeyeater or Dark-brown Honeyeater (Lichmera incana) is a passerine
bird
of the honeyeater
family which is found in Vanuatu
and New Caledonia
in the south-west Pacific. It is sometimes known as the Silver-eared Honeyeater but this name is also used for the Silver-eared Honeyeater
(Lichmera alboauricularis) of New Guinea
.
is mainly dull green-brown above and grey with an olive tint below. The cheeks are silvery-grey, and the crown is dark grey. The black bill
is long and slightly downcurved; the legs and feet are blue-grey. Juveniles
are paler than the adults without the silvery cheeks.
They are noisy birds which begin calling before dawn. They have a harsh 'tchoo-tchoo-tchoo' call and a warbling song
.
s and gardens. There are five subspecies
; the nominate subspecies L. i. incana is found on Grande Terre, the main island of New Caledonia. L. i. poliotis and L. i. mareensis are found on the Loyalty Islands
to the north-east. L. i. flavotincta and L. i. griseoviridis occur in Vanuatu.
. They also feed on insect
s and spider
s, searching among leaves or making short flights into the air to catch them. They will sometimes hover in front of flowers or spider web
s looking for food.
usually lasts from October to February. The nest
is made mainly of grass
and plant fibres, held together by spider webs. It is built in the fork of a branch in a tree or bush. Two eggs
are laid; these are white with a few reddish spots and are incubated
for 14 days. The young birds are fed on insects and spiders and leave the nest after 12 days.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
of the honeyeater
Honeyeater
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 known as Wallacea...
family which is found in Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
and New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
in the south-west Pacific. It is sometimes known as the Silver-eared Honeyeater but this name is also used for the Silver-eared Honeyeater
Silver-eared Honeyeater
The Silver-eared Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is found in West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.-References:...
(Lichmera alboauricularis) of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
.
Description
The Grey-eared Honeyeater is 13 to 17 cm long with the males being larger than the females. The plumagePlumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
is mainly dull green-brown above and grey with an olive tint below. The cheeks are silvery-grey, and the crown is dark grey. The black bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
is long and slightly downcurved; the legs and feet are blue-grey. Juveniles
Juvenile (organism)
A juvenile is an individual organism that has not yet reached its adult form, sexual maturity or size. Juveniles sometimes look very different from the adult form, particularly in terms of their colour...
are paler than the adults without the silvery cheeks.
They are noisy birds which begin calling before dawn. They have a harsh 'tchoo-tchoo-tchoo' call and a warbling song
Bird song
Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs are distinguished by function from calls.-Definition:The distinction between songs and calls is based upon...
.
Distribution and habitat
It is a common bird across most of its range and occurs in the lowlands and low hills in a variety of habitats including forest, scrub, mangroveMangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
s and gardens. There are five subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
; the nominate subspecies L. i. incana is found on Grande Terre, the main island of New Caledonia. L. i. poliotis and L. i. mareensis are found on the Loyalty Islands
Loyalty Islands
The Loyalty Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific. They are part of the French territory of New Caledonia, whose mainland is away. They form the Loyalty Islands Province , one of the three provinces of New Caledonia...
to the north-east. L. i. flavotincta and L. i. griseoviridis occur in Vanuatu.
Feeding
They feed from the shrub layer up to the canopy, moving from branch to branch in search of flowers from which they take nectar and pollenPollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
. They also feed on insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s and spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s, searching among leaves or making short flights into the air to catch them. They will sometimes hover in front of flowers or spider web
Spider web
A spider web, spiderweb, spider's web or cobweb is a device built by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets....
s looking for food.
Reproduction
The breeding seasonBreeding season
The breeding season is the most suitable season, usually with favourable conditions and abundant food and water, for breeding among some wild animals and birds . Species with a breeding season have naturally evolved to have sexual intercourse during a certain time of year in order to achieve the...
usually lasts from October to February. The nest
Nest
A nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's eggs or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building...
is made mainly of grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
and plant fibres, held together by spider webs. It is built in the fork of a branch in a tree or bush. Two eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
are laid; these are white with a few reddish spots and are incubated
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...
for 14 days. The young birds are fed on insects and spiders and leave the nest after 12 days.