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Grey-headed Honeyeater (Ptilotula keartlandi) Alternate name(s): "Keartland's Honeyeater" Size: 15-16 cm Body mass: 12-18 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 Grey-headed Honeyeaters are small nectar-eating birds. They have a yellowish throat which connects to a yellow plume around the ear coverts. The top of the head is grey, with darker grey patches around the eyes and on the ear coverts. At the lower edge of the ear coverts, just above the yellow plume, there is a thin black plume. The rest of the front is pale-yellow, turning to greyish yellow towards belly and vent. The back is greyish-olive, with greyish-brown flight feathers with olive-green leading edges. The rump is dark-grey; the tail is grey with some olive-green. The irises are dark-brown. The slightly down-curved bill is black, while the legs and feet are grey. Juveniles have duller colours and an orange gape and base of the lower mandible.

Taxonomy, classification See Grey-headed Honeyeater at Wikipedia . Click here for classification information The classification of Australian honeyeater species, mainly in the genus "Lichenostomus", has undergone a major revision, with many species now moved into several newly defined genera (Gavicalis, Stomiopera, Ptilotula, Nesoptilotis).

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 Grey-headed 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. Grey-headed Honeyeaters are endemic to Australia. They are found only in the northern half of the continent, with a northern boundary of their range from the Pilbara coast in WA to the South coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria in QLD. In the interior, towards the South, their distribution extends from roughly the Gascoyne River in WA to the WA/SA/NT tri-state border, South of Alice Springs, NT, and into far western QLD. Note that this area includes parts of the great sandy deserts of inland WA. Grey-headed Honeyeaters are NOT found in the Lake Eyre Basin, South of Mt. Isa, QLD, but there is a separate population in the south-western corner of QLD, along the upper Paroo River. Grey-headed Honeyeaters have a preference for mulga scrub and woodland, but they are also found regularly in gorges and along rocky hillsides.

Sightings Click here for sighting information B. Hensen reports spotting a pair of Grey-headed Honeyeaters at Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, near Cunnamulla, QLD, in October 2012. J. Greaves reports spotting Grey-headed Honeyeaters at the Granites Gold Mine, inland NT, in June 2015. B. Hensen found a Grey-headed Honeyeater in the township of Alice Springs, NT, in July 2018. M. Eaton spotted a Grey-headed Honeyeater ca. 40 km West of Cunnamulla, QLD, in June 2019. More were found at Mount Isa, QLD, in June 2021, and at Lake Moondarra, near Mount Isa, QLD, in June 2025. Others were spotted at a waterhole in Mount Isa, QLD, in June 2026.

Photos

ADULT

PAIR

Lateral view two Grey-headed Honeyeaters (a pair?) at a waterhole (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2026]

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a Grey-headed Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

Near-frontal view of a Grey-headed Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

Near-frontal view of a Grey-headed Honeyeater approaching a waterhole (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

Near-frontal view of a Grey-headed Honeyeater looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, July 2026]

Near-lateral view of a Grey-headed Honeyeater looking towards the observer (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2026]

Near-lateral view of a Grey-headed Honeyeater approaching a waterhole (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

Lateral view of a Grey-headed Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[40 km west of Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Lateral view of a Grey-headed Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Alice Springs, NT, July 2018]

Lateral/ventral view of a Grey-headed Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[40 km west of Cunnamulla, QLD, June 2019]

Dorsal view of a Grey-headed Honeyeater looking sideways (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Near-frontal view of a juvenile Grey-headed Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

Close-up near-lateral view of a juvenile Grey-headed Honeyeater approaching a waterhole (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

Close-up lateral view of a juvenile Grey-headed Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

Close-up lateral view of a juvenile Grey-headed Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

Close-up lateral view of a juvenile Grey-headed Honeyeater with its tongue sticking out (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, July 2021]

Lateral view of a juvenile Grey-headed Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

Close-up lateral view of a juvenile Grey-headed Honeyeater approaching a waterhole, now looking away from the observer (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

Family of Grey-headed Honeyeaters (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[The Granites Gold Mine, inland NT, June 2015]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Dispersive

Elementary unit: Solitary/pair

Food, Diet

Near-frontal view of a juvenile Grey-headed Honeyeater drinking water (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 2021]

Close-up lateral view of a juvenile Grey-headed Honeyeater scooping up water (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Mount Isa, QLD, June 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.

grhdhon_me_20210606.m4a	(NW QLD)	Contact calls? ("woodswallow-like")	© ME
grhdhon_me_20210606_2.m4a	(NW QLD)	Clan interacting	© ME

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