Eastern Spinebill
The eastern Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris), is a species of honeyeater found in dry sclerophyll forest, scrub and heathland from the Cooktown area in North Queensland south through New South Wales east of the Great Dividing Range, through Victoria and into the Flinders Ranges in eastern South Australia as well as throughout Tasmania. Adaptable, they can be found in urban gardens with sufficient vegetation to act as cover and a food source.
It is around 6 inches long, and has a distinctive black, white and chestnut plumage, a red eye, and a long down-curved bill. The male Eastern Spinebill has a black head, white throat with a reddish patch and red iris. It has a brownish-red nape, a gray brown back and pale cinnamon underparts. The dark tail is tipped with white laterally. Females and juveniles are smaller and duller. The call is a rapid piping.
Breeding season is from August to December, with one or two broods raised. The nest is a deep cup-shaped structure of grass and bark lined with feathers, generally in the fork of a small bushy tree or shrub. The clutch is 2-3 pinkish eggs with dark reddish brown blotches and spots.
The Eastern Spinebill feeds on nectar from many plants, including the blooms of gum trees, mistletoes, and various members of the Proteaceae, as well as small insects and other invertebrates. A 1982 study in the New England National Park in North-eastern New South Wales found that there was a large influx of birds coinciding with the start of flowering of Banksia spinulosa there. They have been known to feed from exotic plants such as Fuchsias.
