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White-eared Honeyeater |
Sightings
White-eared Honeyeaters did not come into our garden south of Narrabri, New South Wales (2003-2006). They clearly preferred staying in the bush, rather than venturing into open terrain. However, we spotted them regularly in the neighbouring scrub, in Jack's Creek State Forest, where they were not particularly shy.
20 km east of Narrabri, on a property with bushland, White-eared Honeyeaters occasionally come to a water bowl, but are visibly shier than other species.
Also seen regularly in various parts of Mt. Kaputar National Park, some 30-40 km east of Narrabri, up to high altitudes of up to 1500 m, where they have been seen hunting in low scrub.
Seen 15 km east of Narrabri in June 2008, where they came to check out the human intruders into their territory, before taking off into the dense growth of young cypress pine trees.
Photos
Frontal view of a White-eared Honeyeater (click on image for larger version)
More lateral view of a White-eared Honeyeater (click on image for larger version)
White-eared Honeyeater looking around cautiously while approaching a waterhole (click on image for larger version)
Lateral view of the same bird as above, now having a drink; one can see how the tongue is used to slurp up water (click on image for larger version)
Lateral view of a bird hiding in foliage (click on image for larger version)
Habits
White-eared Honeyeaters are one of the bird species that will come close to check out intruders into their territories. However, although living only a few kilometers away from contiguous bushland, they hardly ever came to the place where we lived, in the foothills of the Nandewar Range, in 2006-2009.