18

Black Honeyeater (Sugomel [Certhionyx] niger) Aboriginal name(s): "dwerdangokngonin" (WA) Size: 10-12 cm Body mass: 9-12 g

Australia: Family Group 18 Family Group 18 Table Yellow Wattlebird Red Wattlebird Little Wattlebird Western Wattlebird Regent Honeyeater Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Striped Honeyeater Helmeted Friarbird Silver-crowned Friarbird Noisy Friarbird Little Friarbird Blue-faced Honeyeater Bell Miner Yellow-throated Miner Noisy Miner Macleay's Honeyeater Tawny-breasted Honeyeater Yellow-spotted Honeyeater Graceful Honeyeater Lewin's Honeyeater Yellow-faced Honeyeater Bridled Honeyeater Eungella Honeyeater Singing Honeyeater Mangrove Honeyeater Varied Honeyeater White-lined Honeyeater Kimberley Honeyeater White-gaped Honeyeater Yellow Honeyeater White-eared Honeyeater Yellow-throated Honeyeater Yellow-tufted Honeyeater Purple-gaped Honeyeater Grey-headed Honeyeater Yellow-plumed Honeyeater Grey-fronted Honeyeater Fuscous Honeyeater Yellow-tinted Honeyeater White-plumed Honeyeater Green-backed Honeyeater Brown Honeyeater Bar-breasted Honeyeater Brown-backed Honeyeater Rufous-throated Honeyeater Grey Honeyeater Tawny-crowned Honeyeater Rufous-banded Honeyeater White-streaked Honeyeater New Holland Honeyeater White-cheeked Honeyeater Crescent Honeyeater White-fronted Honeyeater Painted Honeyeater Black-chinned Honeyeater White-throated Honeyeater Strong-billed Honeyeater White-naped Honeyeater Brown-headed Honeyeater Black-headed Honeyeater Eastern Spinebill Western Spinebill Banded Honeyeater Black Honeyeater Pied Honeyeater Scarlet Honeyeater Red-headed Honeyeater Dusky Honeyeater Garden Sunbird Gibberbird Crimson Chat Orange Chat Yellow Chat White-fronted Chat Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Black Honeyeaters are very small nectar-eating birds. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. Male Black Honeyeaters have an all-black head and back, and also a black throat, chest and wide vertical frontal stripe. Only the shoulders, the flanks, belly, vent and undertail coverts are white. The long, slightly down-curved bill is black. Female Black Honeyeaters have a greyish-brown crown and back, with darker greyish-brown flight feathers. They have a greyish-brown narrow eye stripe on a lighter greyish-brown face, the colour of which continues into the chest that has some faint brown streaking. The throat, belly and vent are near-white. The long, slightly down-curved bill is grey. The irises of both sexes are dark-brown and the legs and feet are grey. Juvenile Black Honeyeaters are similar to females. Twitcher's tip Together with Banded Honeyeaters and Pied Honeyeaters, Black Honeyeaters are one of three small black-and-white honeyeater species found in Australia. Of these three, Black Honeyeaters are the only ones with a long, vertical black stripe down the front.

Taxonomy, classification See Black Honeyeater at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Black Honeyeater is available HERE . NB: Reports on ebird of birds submitted by birdwatchers from the Australian Outback tend to be clustered along roads and public areas such as camp grounds; in such cases their distribution is not a good representation of the overall distribution of the species. Black Honeyeaters are endemic to Australia. They are very well adapted to life in the interior of the Australian continent. Except for the West coast of WA, they are not found anywhere along the Australian coastline, but almost everywhere in the interior of the continent (for details see a field guide). They avoid the far tropical North, the entire eastern half of QLD, the Great Dividing Range and coastal fringe of NSW and the South coast of Australia. They are found northward of a line connecting about Geraldton, WA, with Kalgoorlie, WA, through the Flinders Ranges, SA, just to the North of both Adelaide, SA, and Melbourne, VIC. From there, their inland distribution goes as far East as about Moree, NSW, staying westward of a line connecting Moree with Mt. Isa, QLD, and from there southward of a line connecting Mt. Isa with Eighty Mile Beach, WA. Within that inland range, they are only rarely found in the Lake Eyre Basin, including Alice Springs, NT. They also avoid the south-western part of WA. Black Honeyeaters live mostly in arid shrubland, but also in riparian woodland along inland rivers.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Black Honeyeaters are spotted occasionally by C. Hayne since 2009 at various locations in and around Moree, NSW, e.g. at Whittaker's Lagoon, 20 km West of Moree. They are found in gardens at times when there are plenty of flowering trees (especially River Coobas) out in nature. In November 2013 about 10 birds were spotted near Ashley, NSW. First two single Black Honeyeaters were found by us separately in Mt. Kaputar NP, near Narrabri, NSW, in September/October 2018; shortly after at least 8 were found at the same location as the second sighting. D. Johnston reports spotting a Black Honeyeater in Timmallallie NP, near Baradine, NSW, in the 1980ies. M. Mearns found a Black Honeyeater in Diamantina NP, QLD, in September 2019. A single male Black Honeyeater was found by us in Pilliga NP, at the northern end of the Pilliga Forest, in December 2019. In January 2020 a male Black Honeyeater was found in our rural garden at Eulah Creek, near Narrabri, NSW. M. Eaton reports finding lots of Black Honeyeaters at Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, in June 2020. The species was also found at Windorah, QLD, in August 2022, and along the Winton to Jundah Road at the Lark Quarry turn-off, QLD, in June 2025.

Photos

ADULT

PAIR

Lateral view of a pair of Black Honeyeaters - male below, female above
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, October 2018]

Near-dorsal/dorsal view of a pair of Black Honeyeaters
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, October 2018]

Six Black Honeyeaters (4 males and 2 females) and a Yellow-faced Honeyeater approaching a waterhole
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, October 2018]

MALE

Close-up frontal view of a male Black Honeyeater looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Winton to Jundah Road, Lark Quarry turn-off, QLD, June 2025]

Near-lateral view of a male Black Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Close-up -nearlateral view of a male Black Honeyeater issuing its call (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Winton to Jundah Road, Lark Quarry turn-off, QLD, June 2025]

Lateral view of a male Black Honeyeater looking towards the observer (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Close-up lateral view of a male Black Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Winton to Jundah Road, Lark Quarry turn-off, QLD, June 2025]

Lateral view of a male Black Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Lateral view of a male Black Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Lateral view of a male Black Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Windorah, QLD, August 2022]

Ventral view of a male Black Honeyeater
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, October 2018]

FEMALE

Frontal view of a female Black Honeyeater looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Frontal view of a female Black Honeyeater looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Near-frontal view of a female Black Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Lateral view of a female Black Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Winton to Jundah Road, Lark Quarry turn-off, QLD, June 2025]

Lateral view of a female Black Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Near-dorsal view of a female Black Honeyeater looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Near-dorsal view of a female Black Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Ventral view of a female Black Honeyeater - note the similarity with a Brown Honeyeater
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, October 2018]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal view of an immature male Black Honeyeater - note the already black head, front and mantle, but the still brown wings
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, October 2018]

Lateral view of an immature male Black Honeyeater - note the already black head, front and mantle, but the still brown wings
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, October 2018]

Lateral view of a juvenile Black Honeyeater feeding in a River Cooba tree (photo courtesy of C. Hayne)
[Whittaker's Lagoon, NSW, December 2013]

Lateral view of a juvenile Black Honeyeater feeding in a River Cooba tree (photo courtesy of C. Hayne)
[Whittaker's Lagoon, NSW, December 2013]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Nomadic/dispersive

Elementary unit: Solitary/pair/mob

While territorial during the breeding season, Black Honeyeaters can form substantial flocks around areas with good food sources.

Food, Diet

Black Honeyeaters feed exclusively on nectar. They have a preference for Eremophila ("Emu-bush") plants.

Black Honeyeater taking nectar from a eucalypt tree (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Kilcowera Station, between Thargomindah and Hungerford, QLD, June 2020]

Three Black Honeyeaters feeding on nectar high up in the crown of a eucalypt
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, October 2018]

Eight Black Honeyeaters drinking water from an abandoned farm dam
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, October 2018]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

blkhon_me_20250617.m4a	(Ctl QLD)	Various (+ Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater)	© ME
blkhon_me_20220815.mp3	(Ctl QLD)	Q&A, 2 males (+ Willie Wagtail)	© ME

More Black Honeyeater sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.