Gray Honeyeater Conopophila whitei Scientific name definitions

10–13 cm; male 7–10·3 g, female 9·4–11 g. Small, slim honeyeater with short tail. Plumage is nondescript brownish-grey above and white below, with partial thin pale grey eyering (broken in front of and behind eye), brownish-grey wash across breast and anterior flanks; uppertail dark grey-brown, finely edged white; upperwing blackish-brown, leading secondary coverts paler brownish-grey, greater secondary coverts and tertials with diffuse brownish-grey fringes, primaries with thin off-white edges and secondaries with thin olive-yellow edges (diffuse narrow olive strip on folded wing); undertail dark grey with conspicuous broad white tips on outer few rectrices; underwing white, merging to dark grey trailing edge and tip, with some brown mottling along leading edge; iris dark brown to red-brown; bill grey, with pink-brown or blue-grey base of lower mandible (bill also described as wholly black), gape greyish or dull orange; legs dark grey or grey-black. Sexes alike in plumage; male slightly larger than female in tail length but not in other measures or in weight. Juvenile is like adult but browner above (slightly greyer top of head), with pale yellow wash on ear-coverts, malar area, chin and side of throat, merging to white on centre of throat, prominent narrow pale yellow to off-white partial eyering, breast washed creamy yellow and only faintly tinged brown, undertail-coverts washed pale yellow, most of remiges thinly edged pale olive-yellow (more extensive olive wash on wing), newly fledged young has pale orange, orange-yellow or yellow swollen gape.

Arid and semi-arid inland Australia: widely scattered records from W Western Australia E to C & S Northern Territory (S of 17° S) and, rarely, N South Australia.

Low acacia woodlands and shrublands, usually dominated by mulga (Acacia aneura), Acacia tetragonophylla and Acacia citrinoviridis, with scattered low shrubs and often lining stony or sandy creekbeds; possibly prefers mature stands. Also on sandhills with canegrass (Zygochloa paradoxa), scattered beefwood (Grevillea striata), red mulga (Acacia cyperophylla) and eucalypts. Sometimes in gardens of towns or homesteads, and recorded breeding in such.

No information. Regularly reported at some sites, but sightings and occurrence unpredictable; described as resident or as nomadic and moving through much of C Australia, with no evidence for either.

Mostly insectivorous, seen to eat lerp and associated insects; also nectar and mistletoe (Loranthaceae) fruit. Forages mainly in foliage of trees and shrubs, often Acacia. Insects obtained mainly by gleaning from among foliage; seen also to sally-hover over crowns of plants to take insects from outer foliage. Obtains nectar from Eremophila by puncturing side of tubular flowers. Quiet and unobtrusive, but not shy. Singly, in twos (at least sometimes pairs) and in family groups; forages also in small flocks of up to eight individuals. Often with acanthizids, especially Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa) and Western Gerygone (Gerygone fusca). Sometimes pauses for short periods with bill open and wings outstretched.

Most common call a loud and somewhat harsh, disyllabic “cre-seek”, second note higher than first, often rapidly repeated plaintive “troo-whee, troo-whee” or “tsee-you-wee”; also a high silvery contact call. Song a rapid, high-pitched, sibilant and musical reel, in flight and when perched.

Breeds in cooler months of inland, from late autumn to mid-spring, but few records; eggs mid-May, second half Aug and mid-Nov, nestlings late Oct and fledglings late Aug to late Oct. Nest built by both sexes, a thin cup made of grass, leaves, plant fibres and horsehair, bound together and attached to tree with spider web (one held together with sticky seed-coats), one nest loosely lined and covered on outside with woolly seeds, two others had many small white woolly lerps on outside, external diameter 5–7 cm; suspended c. 1 m to c. 2·5 m up at end of horizontal branch (sometimes forked) of narrow-leaved tree, often Acacia. Clutch 1 or 2 eggs; incubation said to be by both sexes; both feed nestlings and fledglings; no information on duration of incubation and nestling periods.

Not globally threatened. Little known; uncommon to rare. Listed as “rare” in South Australia and “endangered” in Western Australia. At one site in Western Australia, five pairs recorded within radius of 1 km (c. 0·3 birds/ha). Most reliably reported at a few sites in inland Western Australia and at Kunoth Well (near Alice Springs), in Northern Territory. Breeding recorded at several widely scattered locations, but very few records. May be adversely affected by burning of vegetation and grazing by domestic and feral stock, which result in lack of regeneration of mulga habitats.