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Crescent Honeyeater (Phylidonyris pyrrhopterus) Alternate name(s): "Tasmanian Honey-eater", "Horseshoe Honey-eater", "Egypt Honey-eater", "Chick-chock", "Chinawing" Size: 15-16 cm Body mass: 13-21 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

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

Physical description Click here for a physical description Crescent Honeyeaters are small nectar-eating birds. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. Male Crescent Honeyeaters have a dark-grey head with short white eyebrows that start behind the eyes. The throat and centre of the chest are light-grey, with faint darker-grey streaking. The flanks and belly are grey, with a lighter grey centre line. The most prominent feature are two dark-grey crescent shapes down the sides of the breast connecting to the dark-grey back and shoulders. The flight feathers and the outer tail feathers have bright-yellow edges. This gives the folded wings a bright yellow spot when perched. Female Crescent Honeyeaters are much more inconspicuous, with greyish-brown tints where the males are dark-grey. Also the wing patches are much more subdued, with faint olive leading edges on the flight feathers. The irises of both sexes are dark. The long, slightly down-curved bill is black. The legs and feet are grey. Juvenile Crescent Honeyeaters do not have crescents yet.

Taxonomy, classification See Crescent 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 Crescent Honeyeater is available HERE . There are two races of Crescent Honeyeaters, both of which are endemic to the south-eastern part of Australia. Nominate race "pyrrhopterus" populates the Great Dividing Range and adjacent coastal fringe of southern VIC and south-eastern NSW, from the VIC/SA border in the West to the NSW Central Coast in the North-East. Occasionally, they can be found as far North along the NSW coast as the lower Hunter River valley and as far inland as the Canberra, ACT, and other locations on the inland side of the Great Dividing Range. Race "pyrrhopterus" is also present in Tasmania and on the smaller islands along Bass Strait. Race "halmaturinus" is found only in a small area to the South of Adelaide, SA, and Kangaroo Island. Crescent Honeyeaters have a preference for coastal heath and mountain forest.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "pyrrhopterus" B. Hensen reports spotting a Crescent Honeyeater, race "pyrrhopterus", in the Blue Mountains, East of Sydney, NSW, in January 2014. A female bird was spotted by B. Hensen near Katoomba, NSW, in September 2014. R. Plumtree reports spotting Crescent Honeyaters, race "pyrrhopterus", occasionally in East Gippsland, VIC. B. Hensen spotted Crescent Honeyeaters, race "pyrrhopterus", on Bruny Island, TAS, in March 2016. M. Eaton found Crescent Honeyeaters, race "pyrrhopterus", at Mt. Nelson, Hobart, TAS, and along the Queen Elizabeth Track, Bruny Island, TAS, in April 2021. Race "halmaturinus" J. Greaves reports spotting Crescent Honeyeaters, race "halmaturinus", at Western River Conservation Park, Kangaroo Island, SA, in March 2016.

Photos

Race "pyrrhopterus"

ADULT

PAIR

Many bird species exhibit sexual dimorphism, i.e., male and female have differing appearances which can be quite subtle.
Male Crescent Honeyeaters, left, are greyer and have a more conspicuous frontal pattern than females, whose base colour is more brownish.

MALE

Frontal view of a male Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Ensay, East Gippsland, VIC, September 2018]

Near-frontal view of a male Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Near North Ensay, East Gippsland, VIC, September 2018]

Near-lateral view of a male Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Mt. Nunniong, East Gippsland, VIC, December 2017]

Lateral view of a male Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Near North Ensay, East Gippsland, VIC, September 2018]

Lateral view of a male Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Bruny Island, TAS, March 2016]

Lateral view of a male Crescent Honeyeater issuing its call (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Ensay, East Gippsland, VIC, December 2017]

Near-dorsal view of a male Crescent Honeyeater taking a bath (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Queen Elizabeth Track, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Near-dorsal view of a male Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Near North Ensay, East Gippsland, VIC, September 2018]

FEMALE

Frontal view of a female Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Sheep Station Creek, near Swifts Creek, East Gippsland, VIC, July 2018]

Near-frontal view of a female Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Sheep Station Creek, near Swifts Creek, East Gippsland, VIC, July 2018]

Near-lateral view of a wet female Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Queen Elizabeth Track, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Near-lateral view of a female Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Near Katoomba, Blue Mountains, NSW, September 2014]

Lateral view of a female Crescent Honeyeater taking a bath (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Queen Elizabeth Track, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Lateral view of a female Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Mt. Nunniong, East Gippsland, VIC, December 2017]

Lateral view of a female Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Near Katoomba, Blue Mountains, NSW, September 2014]

Lateral view of two female Crescent Honeyeaters taking a bath (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Queen Elizabeth Track, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Near-dorsal view of a female Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Sheep Station Creek, near Swifts Creek, East Gippsland, VIC, July 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a female Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Bruny Island, TAS, March 2016]

Dorsal view of a female Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Sheep Station Creek, near Swifts Creek, East Gippsland, VIC, July 2018]

Race "halmaturinus"

ADULT

PAIR

Many bird species exhibit sexual dimorphism, i.e., male and female have differing appearances which can be quite subtle.
Male Crescent Honeyeaters, left, are greyer and have a more conspicuous frontal pattern than females, whose base colour is more brownish.

MALE

Frontal view of a male Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Western River Conservation Park, Kangaroo Island, SA, March 2016]

Frontal view of a male Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Western River Conservation Park, Kangaroo Island, SA, March 2016]

Lateral view of a male Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Western River Conservation Park, Kangaroo Island, SA, March 2016]

Lateral view of a male Crescent Honeyeater, now with its tongue sticking out (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Western River Conservation Park, Kangaroo Island, SA, March 2016]

Male Crescent Honeyeater preening (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Western River Conservation Park, Kangaroo Island, SA, March 2016]

Male Crescent Honeyeater issuing its call (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Western River Conservation Park, Kangaroo Island, SA, March 2016]

FEMALE

Near-frontal view of a female Crescent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Western River Conservation Park, Kangaroo Island, SA, March 2016]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Dispersive

Elementary unit: Solitary/pair

Food, Diet

Near-frontal view of a male Crescent Honeyeater taking nectar from a flower and in the process getting pollenall over its face (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mt. Nelson, Hobart, TAS, April 2021]

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.

creshon_jg_20160325_2.m4a	halmaturinus (Kangaroo Island)	Contact call?	© JG
creshon_jg_20160325_2.mp3	halmaturinus (Kangaroo Island)	Contact calls?	© JG
creshon_jg_20160325.mp3	halmaturinus (Kangaroo Island)	Various	© JG

More Crescent 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.