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Black-chinned Honeyeater (Melithreptus gularis) Alternate name(s): "Golden-backed Honeyeater", "Black-throated Honeyeater" Size: 15.5-17 cm Body mass: 19-23 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-chinned Honeyeaters are small nectar-eating birds. Except for a light-blue skin patches above the eyes and a white band around the nape of the neck, their head is black. Down the centre of their throat they have an inconspicuous black vertical stripe, contrasting against the white sides of the throat. The rest of the front, from the breast down to the undertail coverts, is light-grey. The back and rump of race "gularis" is olive-grey, while the tropical race "laetior" ("Golden-backed Honeyeater") has a golden yellow nape of the neck and yellow-olive back and rump. The eye skin patches of race "laetior" are yellowish-green. The wings of both races are dark-grey, the uppertail is also dark-grey, while the undertail is light-grey. The irises are dark. The short, slightly down-curved bill is black, while the legs and feet are the colour of skin. Juveniles have a dull-brown head (very similar to a Brown-headed Honeyeater's, except for their yellowish bill).

Taxonomy, classification See Black-chinned 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-chinned Honeyeater is available HERE . Black-chinned Honeyeaters are endemic to Australia. There are two races of Black-chinned Honeyeaters. One is found in the tropical North of Australia, the other along the South and East coast. Next to a small population near Adelaide, SA, and just to the North of it, nominate race "gularis" has a range from the SA/VIC border, via the hill ranges of central VIC, into the plains of NSW on the western side of the Great Dividing Range. North of about Newcastle, NSW (the Hunter estuary), they are also found inside the ranges and along the coastal margin, into southern QLD (to the East of a line connecting Mackay and Tullamulla, QLD). Further to the West, in central QLD and the southern 2/3 of Cape York peninsula, the range of race "laetior" starts, which then extends into the northern half of the NT (except the Top End), the Kimberley in WA and an area comprising the catchments of the Fitzroy River and the Ashburton River in north-western WA. Black-chinned Honeyeaters can be found in various types of woodland; we have seen them in open eucalypt forest with some undergrowth.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "gularis" A Black-chinned Honeyeater, race "gularis", was first seen by us in a bottlebrush in our rural garden in 2005, 20 km South of Narrabri, NSW. A single Black-chinned Honeyeater, race "gularis", was spotted in October 2005, at Myall Creek, NSW. Black-chinned Honeyeaters, race "gularis", in amongst other honeyeaters, were seen by us feeding in eucalypt trees with plenty of mistletoe at Upper Bullawa Creek, Mt. Kaputar NP, some 40 km East of Narrabri, in March 2009. They were found again in the same valley in June 2020 and in August 2021. In 2022 they were found at the same location semi-regularly. M. Eaton reports finding a Black-chinned Honeyeater, race "gularis", at Durikai SF, near Warwick, QLD, in August 2017. B. Hensen reports finding a Black-chinned Honeyeater, race "gularis", at Capertee NP, near Mudgee, NSW, in October 2015. R. Plumtreespotted Black-chinned Honeyeaters, race "gularis", at Kooyoola State Park, near Inglewood, VIC, in October 2018. In May 2022 a Black-chinned Honeyeater, race "gularis", was found in the gilgais section of Piliga NP, South of Wee Waa, NSW. Another was found in the township of Baradine. Race "laetior" B. Hensen reports spotting Black-chinned Honeyeaters, race "laetior", at Ormiston Gorge, near Alice Springs, NT, in July 2018. P. Brown found a Black-chinned Honeyeater, race "laetior", along the Buntine Highway, western NT, in September 2020. M. Eaton reports finding a Black-chinned Honeyeater, race "laetior", at a waterhole in Mount Isa, QLD, in July 2026.

Photos

Race "gularis"

ADULT

Sex unknown

Near-frontal/ventral view of an adult Black-chinned Honeyeater
[Near Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, September 2023]

Near-lateral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater, displaying nicely the eye crescent and the top of the olive-green back; note also the conspicuous orange-yellow feet
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, March 2009]

Near-lateral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, March 2009]

Lateral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Capertee NP, near Mudgee, NSW, October 2015]

Lateral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater, next to a Fuscous Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Kooyoola State Park, near Inglewood, VIC, October 2018]

Lateral/ventral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Kooyoola State Park, near Inglewood, VIC, October 2018]

Lateral/ventral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater looking for prey under a piece of loose tree bark
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, March 2009]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater
[Near Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, September 2023]

Race "laetior"

This race is also called the "Golden-backed Honeyeater".

ADULT

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Ormiston Gorge, near Alice Springs, NT, July 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater looking sideways (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Ormiston Gorge, near Alice Springs, NT, July 2018]

Lateral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater looking towards the observer (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Buntine Highway, western NT, September 2020]

Lateral portrait of a Black-chinned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Ormiston Gorge, near Alice Springs, NT, July 2018]

Lateral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Ormiston Gorge, near Alice Springs, NT, July 2018]

Lateral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater approaching a waterhole (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mt. Isa, QLD, July 2026]

Dorsal view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Ormiston Gorge, near Alice Springs, NT, July 2018]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Dispersive

Elementary unit: Pair/family clan/mob

Food, Diet

Lateral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater taking nectar from a eucalypt
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, August 2021]

Black-chinned Honeyeater on the ground, approaching a waterhole, together with Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Durikai SF, near Warwick, QLD, August 2017]

Lateral view of a Black-chinned Honeyeater approaching a waterhole (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mt. Isa, QLD, July 2026]

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.

blchhon_20220624.m4a	gularis (NW NSW)	Territorial call(?)	© MD
blchhon_20200619.m4a	gularis (NW NSW)	Territorial calls(?)	© MD
blchhon_20200619_2.m4a	gularis (NW NSW)	Various	© MD
blchhon_20210910.m4a	gularis (NW NSW)	Various	© MD
blchhon_20220624_2.m4a	gularis (NW NSW)	?	© MD
blchhon_20221003.mp3	gularis (NW NSW)	?	© MD

More Black-chinned 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.

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