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While Paluma is best known for its montane rainforest, the village itself has quite substantial open cleared areas that support plants and animals that are more characteristic of open forest and heathlands. One of the birds that falls into this category is the White-cheeked honeyeater (Phylidonyris niger). It is one of the most common birds around the village, feeding on Calistemons, Banksias and Grevillias, but is mostly absent along the forested village tracks. This delightfully plumed, energetic, gregarious and vocal small bird always raises my spirits as it flits among the small trees and shrubs and trees in the front yards along the main road. As a scientist, I’ve been trained not to anthropomorphise, but I always get the feeling that they are cheeky and irrepressibly cheerful animals.

The White-cheeked honeyeater is an Australian endemic with two distinct populations (subspecies) in eastern and southwest Australia. Its plumage is unmistakable with its black head and eye patch, brilliant white cheek and forehead and yellow wing patch. Its principal habitat is open forests and wet heathlands where it feeds mainly on nectar-producing native plants with insects acting as a supplemental source of protein and other essential nutrients. In Paluma it can be a regular visitor to bird feeders that offer a bit of liquid from ripe fruit or commercial nectar substitutes. Despite its relatively small size, it can be quite fearless in chasing off other large honeyeaters, especially when part of a feeding group. I have had over 10 at my feeder on occasion.

Breeding can occur throughout the year with a peak in winter. Cup-shaped nests are built by the female in lower tree branches and shrubs as well as in grasses.

The White-cheeked honeyeater was first named in 1811 and placed in the genus that includes tree creepers. This miscategorization was remedied in 1830 by Renee Lesson who coined the genus name Phylidoneris from its (supposed) similarity to Friarbirds (genus Philemon) and Sunbirds (genus Cinnyris)

Text and Photos by Jamie Oliver

One of the first rainforest birds I encountered when I first visited Paluma in the mid 70’s was the ubiquitous Lewin’s honeyeater (Meliphaga lewinii). One was picking up crumbs from my scone at the Ivy cottage, while others were foraging in a bottle brush for insects or nectar from the flowers. At that stage I was confident in my identification, armed with a first edition of Slater’s Field Guide and assurances that no other similar species existed this high up on the range.

Virtually any bird-feeder in the village with fruit or other food on offer will attract these friendly and distinctive birds. The soft olive upper plumage, streaky breast and prominent yellow ear patch easily mark them out from the white-cheeked an Macleays honeyeaters that also do the rounds on village feeders. However, for dedicated birdwatchers keen to build an accurate list of bird species they have seen, life is not so straightforward. It turns out that there are two other species of yellow-eared honeyeaters that look almost identical. In some areas they don’t overlap with Lewin’s since they prefer low altitudes, but in Paluma the slightly smaller Yellow-spotted honey eater (Meliphaga notata) is recorded as a fairly common resident, while the even smaller Cryptic Honeyeater, Microptilotis imitatrix, (previously considered to be the Graceful Honeyeater M. gracilis) is an occasional visitor. While there are small but generally reliable differences in size between these species, and local but variable differences in plumage, some experts consider it impossible to distinguish between these species with 100% accuracy based only on field observations. Luckily their calls are very different. Lewin’s main call is a rapid monotonic staccato; the Yellow-spotted has a less rapid repeated call with varied pitch, while the Cryptic has a totally different non repeating call. Check out the calls recorded by Andree Griffin in Paluma many years ago to see if you recognise any of them. Lewins call should be very familiar. Based on these calls I know for certain that many of the birds at my feeder are Lewins, but while I have definitely heard the Yellow-spotted while out on walks I have never actually seen it call so I am reluctant to record this species on my life list.

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Lewin’s Honeyeater is named after John Lewin and the path to this bird’s current name is somewhat twisted. Lewin was an English-born natural history artist. He arrived in Australia in 1800 but despite his artistic skills, his books were not sufficiently popular to provide a livelihood for him and his family. However the then Governor of NSW (Macquarie), recognizing his potential to contribute to the colony, appointed him to the position of  city coroner in order to provide a guaranteed income. His first book on birds (Birds of New Holland, 1808) included a new genus proposed by him: Meliphaga, derived from the ancient greek words meli (honey) and phagos (eating). This genus later lent its name to the entire family of Honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) which contains 174 species and 44 genera. The 1808 book included an illustraion and description of Meliphaga chrysotis (now M. lewinii) but in a later taxonomic revision in 1837, it was given a new name and genus which honoured Lewin’s contributon to Australian ornithology: Ptilotis lewinii. Finally, a later taxonomic review decided that it really belonged back in the genus Meliphaga and we arrive at its present name of Meliphaga lewinii.

Lewin later published a book concentrating on birds of the colony (Natural History of Birds of NSW, 1813). This was the first illustrated book published in Australia, and is now  among the rarest Australian books. A third edition of this book (1822) can be yours for only $75,000 – A bit more than the wage of a humble city coroner in the 1800’s! First editions are considered unprocurable at any price.

Text and photos (unless indicated) by Jamie Oliver