Is it common to see white cheeked & new holland honeyeaters together on the sunshine coast TIA
Wayne Ellis Glasshouse Kinesiology 0407 742 110 enyaw007@yahoo.com.au glaskin@ozemail.com.au Sent from my iPhone ===============================
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We had both the New Holland and the White-cheeked together in the early nineties in the coastal heath near Brooms Head (near Maclean, south of Yamba on the NSW North Coast). I think it was the first sighting for the New Holland for us. We must have got lucky because we have not seen the NH here ever since.
The White-cheeked HE used to be the most common bird around the village, but virtually disappeared when the Council “tidied up” the heath on the high frontal dune. It seems to have reduced considerably in numbers in the nearby heath in Yuraygir NP.
White-breasted Woodswallows used to be common as well until they lost a nesting tree in the same clean-up
Peter and Bev Morgan
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Mick asked me to comment about White-cheeked Honeyeaters in the Hunter Region of NSW. They are a very common bird within an eastern (near-coastal) strip around here, where they co-occur with New Holland H/E but in far greater numbers generally except where there is heath – then the New Holland becomes the dominant species. White-cheeked Honeyeaters are much less common inland (about 98% of the local records of them in the BA Atlas are from the eastern part of the Region). I have never seen them in the Gloucester Tops and in nearly 200 surveys by birdwatchers in the Tops in the past two years (as part of our Rufous Scrub-bird studies) they have not been recorded. So they are very uncommon in the high country, and are relatively infrequently reported from elsewhere outside of the near-coastal strip. Mick is correct about New Holland H/E being found in the high country. Their numbers up there vary from year to year.
Alan Stuart
This is an interesting topic, and I wasn’t aware of the Recher article, thanks Stephen. I know the original question was in relation to SE Qld but I was surprised to read that they hardly overlap there and in NE NSW. In the Hunter we see both species together at a number of sites and not always in the same habitat. Both occur in the coastal heaths seaward of Lake Macquarie and the Myall / Great Lakes. In the areas of coastal heath where “heath specialists” like Tawny-crowned HE’s occur, the New Holland often dominates (and the text in Pizzey’s field guide about the coastal distribution of the New Holland is a little bit out). Both are recorded at high altitudes in Gloucester Tops (>1100m), though I’m not certain which is recorded more often – I would imagine that it is New Holland, but Alan Stuart might like to comment on that. That same area is pretty much the northern limit for another Phylidonyris species – the Crescent HE – which only regularly occurs at that altitude in our region. Both are found in the lower altitudes of the sandstone country on the northern edge of the Wollemi NP escarpment (in dry woodland), and perhaps in close relation, both are found in the sands-dominated lowland woodlands of the Cessnock-Kurri region. When there is significant blossom in this area it is not unusual to see White-cheekeds feeding in the canopy of prolific flowering Ironbarks and sometimes Spotted Gums amongst masses of Little Lorikeets (this is happening right now actually). The New Hollands are very localised, but they co-exist with White-cheeks in the heathy-woodlands dominated in the understorey by Proteaceous vegetation (Banksias, Grevilleas etc). Yellow-tufted HE’s are co-dominant in these areas as well, but usually only where taller open forest is in the vicinity. Both species also occur in suburban parks and gardens in Cessnock and Kurri (great for Twitchathons!). Mick
________________________________ Sent: Tuesday, 17 January 2012 12:04 PM
Wayne,
You may be interested in the following article by Harry Recher:
Ecology of Co-existing White-cheeked and New Holland Honeyeaters
HF Recher
Emu 77(3) 136 – 142
Abstract
The ecology and breeding biology of White-cheeked Phylidonyris nigra and New Holland P. novaehollandiae Honeyeaters has been studied since 1967 in the Brisbane Waters National Park north of Sydney, NSW. This is an area where the ranges of the two birds overlap and in one study plot, a heath, both nest close to each other. Only the White-cheeked occurs in a second plot, a dry sclerophyll woodland, near the heath. Breeding bird censuses have revealed that during most years similar numbers of honeyeaters nest during the autumn and spring but there can be considerable variation in numbers between years. The number of nesting pairs may be related to weather and to long-term changes in vegetation but there is no consistent pattern and numbers may be determined by environmental factors outside the study area. Both species forage in similar ways and take insects and nectar from the same places. It is suggested that the presence of both on the heath for part of the year is related to the abundance of nectar. In other places where the species overlap they are separated by habitat. Data on clutch size, nest sites and breeding success are presented and discussed.
Full text doi:10.1071/MU9770136
C CSIRO 1977
Kind regards, Stephen
Dr Stephen Ambrose Ryde, NSW
Wayne,
You may be interested in the following article by Harry Recher:
Ecology of Co-existing White-cheeked and New Holland Honeyeaters
HF Recher
Emu 77(3) 136 – 142
Abstract
The ecology and breeding biology of White-cheeked Phylidonyris nigra and New Holland P. novaehollandiae Honeyeaters has been studied since 1967 in the Brisbane Waters National Park north of Sydney, NSW. This is an area where the ranges of the two birds overlap and in one study plot, a heath, both nest close to each other. Only the White-cheeked occurs in a second plot, a dry sclerophyll woodland, near the heath. Breeding bird censuses have revealed that during most years similar numbers of honeyeaters nest during the autumn and spring but there can be considerable variation in numbers between years. The number of nesting pairs may be related to weather and to long-term changes in vegetation but there is no consistent pattern and numbers may be determined by environmental factors outside the study area. Both species forage in similar ways and take insects and nectar from the same places. It is suggested that the presence of both on the heath for part of the year is related to the abundance of nectar. In other places where the species overlap they are separated by habitat. Data on clutch size, nest sites and breeding success are presented and discussed.
Full text doi:10.1071/MU9770136
C CSIRO 1977
Kind regards, Stephen
Dr Stephen Ambrose Ryde, NSW
Wayne, No it’s not common, in fact quite rare, to see these species together. I’ve only seen them together (well, within 100 m ) at the same site once in 18 years on the Sunshine Coast, in 2010 near Baroon Pocket Dam, North Maleny. White-cheeked inhabit mostly coastal banksia heath and adjacent lowland scrub with taller banksia, whilst New Holland H/E is less frequently seen, and then usually on the Blackall Range in euc. woodlands (though I have seen New Hollands on the lowlands, near Landsborough).
Russ Lamb, Maleny,SEQ
In north-east New South Wales the New Holland Honeyeater is a high country bird (being a Bassian species) and the White-cheeked Honeyeater is a lowland species. I have had both species occasionally in the Washpool National Park, where the New Holland is the more regular species. There have been 2 or 3 observations on the coast of New Holland Honeyeaters but they are, generally, absent there. Presumably the situation in southern Queensland would be similar.
Greg Dr Greg. P. Clancy Ecologist and Wildlife Guide Coutts Crossing NSW