Mangrove Honeyeater Gavicalis fasciogularis Scientific name definitions

c. 19·5 cm; male 23·9–33·1g, female 22–30 g. Plumage is olive-brown above, grading to greyish-brown on rump and uppertail-coverts, with fine dark streaking on top of head and hindneck, diffuse brown mottling on anterior upperbody, and olive mottling on uppertail-coverts; broad black mask extending well down side of neck (and including upper ear-coverts, which can appear paler than rest of mask), bordered below by yellow stripe (combination of pale yellow to off-white gape, narrow yellow moustachial stripe, and yellow lower ear-coverts) that ends in small white tuft (white rear lower ear-coverts), and meets large greyish-white patch on lower side of neck; tail and upperwing olive-brown, dull olive-green outer edges on rectrices and remiges (forming greenish sides of tail, greenish panel on folded wing); chin and throat finely barred dark grey-brown and dull yellow; upper breast dark greyish, forming breastband, rest of underbody off-white with heavy greyish-brown streaks (sparsely on belly), undertail grey-brown, underwing cream to buff-pink with grey-brown trailing edge and tip; iris blue-grey; bill black; legs dark grey or bluish-grey. Sexes alike in plumage, male slightly larger than female. Juvenile is very similar to adult but plainer and duller, with no streaking or mottling on top of head and anterior upperbody, slightly browner rump and uppertail-coverts, pale yellow chin and throat slightly mottled (not barred) brown, paler breastband, weaker streaking below.

Coastal E Australia from NE Queensland (Ross R, near Townsville) S, including islands from Whitsunday Group S to Moreton Bay, to NE New South Wales (Tweed R–Tweed Heads, and disjunctly farther S near Broken Head, Clarence R and mouth of Macleay R, and once at Wauchope, on Hastings R).

Mainly mangrove forests and woodlands fringing coasts, bays, estuaries and islands; less often in coastal shrubland, woodland or scrub (e.g. of Eucalyptus, Banksia, Melaleuca or combinations of these) near mangroves; regular visitor to parks and gardens in some towns near mangroves.

Resident; some local movements to exploit flowering vegetation. In Moreton Bay, in SE Queensland, numbers increase May–Jun and decline Jul–Dec, possibly result of local seasonal movements. Vagrant on One Tree I, in Capricorn Group (S Great Barrier Reef).

Nectar and invertebrates, possibly fruit. Invertebrates include insects, marine snails (Gastropoda) and crabs (Decapoda). Forages mainly in mangroves (e.g. Aegiceras, Rhizophora), among outer foliage, at flowers and, at low tide, over lower trunks, roots and pneumatophores; visits flowering trees and shrubs (e.g. Banksia, Castanospermum, Erythrina) in adjacent habitats. Gleans invertebrates, and once seen while trying to extract a leaf-curling spider from its leaf. Active, noisy and pugnacious. Usually singly or in small loose groups.

Song loud, melodious and ringing, but varying, e.g. “whit-u-we-u”. Also scolding chatter.

Aug–Dec (peak Sept) and in N of range also Apr–May. Nest cup-shaped, of dried grasses and seagrass or plant fibre bound with spider web and matted egg sacs, lined with fine rootlets or fine grass, hair and plant down, for two nests external diameter 8·9–9·5 cm, depth 5·7–7·6 cm, internal diameter 6·4–7·6 cm, depth 3·8–5·1 cm, usually suspended by rim, occasionally supported, 0·5–2·7 m above ground (one was 1·2 m above ground and 0·75 m above high-water mark), almost always in small, dense mangrove but once in Acacia shrub, and reported in mistletoe (Loranthaceae). Clutch 2 eggs (single-egg clutches perhaps incomplete); no data on incubation and nestling periods; both adults feed nestlings and fledglings. Nests parasitized by Pallid (Heteroscenes pallidus) and Fan-tailed Cuckoos (Cacomantis flabelliformis), and perhaps Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo (Chalcites basalis).

Not globally threatened. Restrictedrange species: present in East Australian Mangroves Secondary Area. Fairly common locally; rare in S of range. No estimates of abundance levels. Possibly adversely affected by coastal development in some areas. Range thought to have expanded S over last 50 years, with first records at Yamba (where now resident) in 1947, and some records farther S (e.g. near mouth of Macleay R in 1958, and slightly farther S in 1961).