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Striped Honeyeater (Plectorhyncha lanceolata) Alternate name(s): "Lanceolated Honeyeater" Size: 22-25 cm; wing span 28-36 cm Body mass: 33-48 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 Striped Honeyeaters are medium-sized nectar-eating birds. They have a striped grey overall appearance. The head is dark-grey and white stripes, possibly with some brownish hues on the cap. The throat is near-white, while the chest is creamy, with lanceolate feathers. The belly and vent are creamy, with some faint, darker striation. The head and neck are boldly striped black-and-white, while the back and wings are brownish-grey. The tail is long, broad, grey and conspicuously flared. The irises are dark-brown, the bill is blueish-grey, with a dark-grey tip. Compared with other Australian nectarivores, the bill is conspicuously short, with little curvature. Legs and feet are grey. The differences between the two sexes are very small. While male Striped Honeyeaters are mostly grey, females have light buff-grey underparts and a browner back. Juveniles are lighter-coloured overall, with less or no striation down the front.

Taxonomy, classification See Striped 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 Striped Honeyeater is available HERE . Striped Honeyeaters are endemic to Australia. They inhabit most of the eastern quarter of the Australian continent. They are found in the far south-eastern corner of SA, all through the Murray Darling Basin and most of NSW (except the far north-western and south-eastern corners) and most of South and central QLD, up to about Undara Volcanic NP, except the most arid part of the interior and the coast North of the tropic of Capricorn. Their range does not include either Cape York peninsula in the North or anywhere else in the tropical North or the West of the continent. They are not found in Tasmania either. Striped Honeyeaters are usually found in open forest, woodland and mallee. They adapt to the presence of humans quite well and will also enter urban parks and gardens. Where to look? How to find this species? While feeding in eucalypts, honeyeaters often stay high up in the crowns of trees and are therefore hard to spot. But many species, including Striped Honeyeaters, will also visit lower plants to feed on nectar in gardens, such as e.g. Eremophila, Banksia, Grevillea or Callistemon. There they are much easier to spot.

Sightings Click here for sighting information We spotted Striped Honeyeaters occasionally where we lived until 2006, 20 km South of Narrabri, NSW. Striped Honeyeaters are resident at Eulah Creek, 20 km East of Narrabri, where we see them regularly. Since 2010 a pair builds its nests in trees in or around the garden basically every year. They are also seen by us regularly in the western foothills of the Nandewar Range, e.g. Deriah Aboriginal Area, 30 km East of Narrabri, in the years since 2007. C. Hayne reports that Striped Honeyeaters are regularly observed around Moree, NSW. M. Mearns reports spotting a Striped Honeyeater at Lake Nuga Nuga, near Injune, QLD, in April 2013. This location is near the western edge of the species' range. M. Eaton reports finding a Striped Honeyeater at Durikai SF, near Warwick, QLD, in August 2017. M. Eaton also found the species at the Eulo Bore, Eulo, QLD, in June 2022. That location is near the western end of the species' range. Another was found at Marmor, QLD, in August 2023, near the northern end of the range.

Photos

ADULT

PAIR

Many bird species exhibit sexual dimorphism, i.e., male and female have differing appearances which can be quite subtle.
Some field guides suggest that male Striped Honeyeaters, left, have a cleaner off-white front than females, whose front is faint-buff.

MALE

Close-up frontal portrait of a male(?) Striped Honeyeater; note its white underparts
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2022]

Frontal portrait of a male(?) Striped Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Marmor, QLD, August 2023]

Frontal view of a male Striped Honeyeater at a bird bath looking sideways
[Eulah Creek, NSW, January 2008]

Frontal/ventral view of a preening male(?) Striped Honeyeater
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2019]

Close-up near-frontal view of a male Striped Honeyeater visiting a bird bath
[Eulah Creek, NSW, February 2024]

Close-up near-frontal view of a male Striped Honeyeater visiting a bird bath
[Eulah Creek, NSW, February 2024]

Near-frontal view of a male Striped Honeyeater foraging in a eucalypt for psyllids and lerps
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2011]

Close-up near-lateral portrait of a male(?) Striped Honeyeater
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2022]

Near-lateral view of a male Striped Honeyeater at a bird bath
[Eulah Creek, NSW, January 2008]

Near-lateral/ventral of a male(?) Striped Honeyeater issuing its call (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Marmor, QLD, August 2023]

Close-up lateral view of a male(?) Striped Honeyeater
[Eulah Creek, NSW, July 2023]

Lateral/ventral view of a male(?) Striped Honeyeater in a casuarina (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Lake Nuga Nuga, QLD, April 2013]

Near-dorsal view of a male Striped Honeyeater
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2012]

Near-dorsal/ventral of a male(?) Striped Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Marmor, QLD, August 2023]

FEMALE

Close-up frontal view of a female(?) Striped Honeyeater; note the faint-buff underparts
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2013]

Near-frontal view of a female Striped Honeyeater looking sideways
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2011]

Close-up near-lateral view of a female Striped Honeyeater
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2022]

Lateral view of a female(?) Striped Honeyeater issuing its call
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2011]

PAIR

Frontal view of a pair of Striped Honeyeaters
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2023]

Sex unknown

Near-frontal view of a Striped Honeyeater foraging in an eucalypt for psyllids and lerps (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[St. George, QLD, August 2018]

Close-up near-lateral portrait of a squeaky clean Striped Honeyeater
[Eulah Creek, NSW, January 2026]

Close-up lateral portrait of a squeaky clean Striped Honeyeater
[Eulah Creek, NSW, January 2026]

Dorsal view of a Striped Honeyeater

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Close-up lateral view of a juvenile Striped Honeyeater illuminated from behind - note the rufous tips of the wing coverts
[Eulah Creek, NSW, February 2012]

Close-up near-frontal view of a juvenile Striped Honeyeater looking at the observer
[Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2011]

Close-up frontal view of a fledgling Striped Honeyeater
[Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2024]

Close-up frontal view of a fledgling Striped Honeyeater looking sideways
[Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2024]

Close-up near-frontal view of a fledgling Striped Honeyeater
[Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2024]

Lateral/ventral view of a fledgling Striped Honeyeater looking at the observer
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2013]

Lateral/ventral view of a fledgling Striped Honeyeater
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2013]

Ventral view of one out of three fledgling Striped Honeyeaters being fed by a parent bird
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, January 2008]

Lateral/ventral view of the same Striped Honeyeater chick (the strongest of the three), having climbed to a higher branch than its siblings, getting the feed again
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, January 2008]

Lateral view of a fledgling Striped Honeyeater, front, begging to be fed
[Eulah Creek, NSW, February 2021]

Near-dorsal view of a fledgling Striped Honeyeater 30 minutes after leaving its nest; this is the younger of two chicks
[Eulah Creek, NSW, February 2021]

When taking one's very first steps, one begs to be excused for still being a bit wobbly on one's feet
[Eulah Creek, NSW, February 2021]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Jul - Jan

Eggs: 3 - 4

Incubation period: 14 days

Fledging age: ca. 15 - 17 days

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Suspended basket

Material: Grass, webs

Height above ground: 2 - 5

Striped Honeyeaters like nesting at the lower end of big mistletoes or drooping branches of trees, such as e.g. Acacia salicina or Weeping Myall.

Lateral view of one of a near-fledging age Striped Honeyeater chicks peeping out of its nest
[Eulah Creek, NSW, February 2021]

Near-lateral view of a Striped Honeyeater at its nest, checking whether that photographer can be trusted
[Eulah Creek, NSW, February 2021]

Close-up near-frontal view of a Striped Honeyeater approaching its nest
[Eulah Creek, NSW, January 2021]

Close-up view of a Striped Honeyeater in its nest
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2024]

Close-up view of a Striped Honeyeater nest
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2024]

Lateral view of a Striped Honeyeater checking out potential nest material
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2022]

In the spring of 2007 a pair of Striped Honeyeaters started building a nest in our garden, 20 km east of Narrabri. However, the nest was later abandoned, because the birds could not establish themselves in the habitat due to the presence of various other, stronger species, such as Noisy Friarbirds, Little Friarbirds and, most prominently, Singing Honeyeaters. They finally succeeded in 2010, see below.

Overview of a Striped Honeyeater's nest - note how the whole construction hinges on the threads tied above the little fork at the top; note also the occupant's ever watchful eye...
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2010]

Striped Honeyeater sitting on its nest; note how low the bird is in the nest - a sign that it is still sitting on eggs; once the chicks hatch, it will be sitting higher while keeping them warm
[Eulah Creek, NSW, January 2011]

Striped Honeyeaters are vigilant while incubating...
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2011]

... they will always keep an eye on the observer
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2011]

Near-lateral view of a female(?) Striped Honeyeater bringing new material for its nest
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2011]

Frontal view of a female Striped Honeyeater eyeing a downy feather for lining its nest
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2013]

Lateral view of a female Striped Honeyeater on the jump to bring a downy feather to its nest
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2013]

Lateral view of a male Striped Honeyeater tearing apart a spider's web for use in binding its nest
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2012]

Close-up near-lateral view of a Striped Honeyeater working on its nest at the end of a stringy branch of an Acacia salicina
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2011]

Striped Honeyeater nest in a flowering mistletoe
[Mt. Kaputar NP, NSW, February 2009]

From the eggs shown below three Striped Honeyeater chicks hatched, seen here begging for food
[Eulah Creek, NSW, December 2011]

Additional information

Striped Honeyeaters like to take advantage of the protection offered by nesting under an Australian Magpie nest. There is a separate page about various bird species nesting under the umbrella of a stronger, protective species.

Composite photo (two photos with different focus settings) of a Striped Honeyeater nest (front left) under a White-winged Chough nest in an Acacia salicina
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2014]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 24 x 17 mm

Colour: Creamy, sparsely speckled with light-brown speckles

Shape: Tapered oval

View from above into a Striped Honeyeater nest with three eggs in it
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2011]

Egg shell that was found discarded on our lawn; we tentatively identify it as a Striped Honeyeater egg
[Eulah Creek, NSW, February 2011]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Dispersive

Elementary unit: Pair

Close-up lateral view of a Striped Honeyeater raising its spiny feathers (crest and hackles) in response to a challenge; note the pollen on its frons and chin
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2022]

Striped Honeyeaters are one of the bird species that immerse themselves completely when having a bath.

Soaking wet Striped Honeyeater dragging itself out of the bathtub (photo courtesy of A. Campbell)
[Mount McEuen, QLD, October 2016]

Close-up near-frontal view of a Striped Honeyeater basking in the sun after a bath
[Eulah Creek, NSW, November 2023]

There is now a separate page describing how a juvenile Pied Butcherbird apparently begged to be fed by a Striped Honeyeater.

Food, Diet

Adults: Nectar, insects

Dependents: Insects

Water intake: Daily

Like many other honeyeaters Striped Honeyeaters like the flowers of bottlebrushes and various types of grevilleas. Again like many other honeyeaters, they do not exclusively feed on nectar, but use their sticky tongue to take insects too. They are also known to feed on fruit and seeds.

Striped Honeyeater feeding in a bottlebrush
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2022]

Dorsal view of Striped Honeyeater acrobatics while feeding in a bottlebrush
[Eulah Creek, NSW, October 2011]

Striped Honeyeater acrobatics while feeding in a bottlebrush, different posture (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[Robina, Gold Coast, QLD, December 2013]

Close-up view of a Striped Honeyeater eyeing lerps (psyllids' crystallized secretion), left, and with a lerp in its bill (right)
[Near Deriah Aboriginal Area, NSW, April 2026]

Dorsal view of a Striped Honeyeater that has picked up a psyllid with lerp (the insect's crystallized secretion) from the underside of a eucalypt leaf
[Eulah Creek, NSW, May 2011]

Lateral view of a male Striped Honeyeater that, failing to find lerps, is picking off psyllids - and there is a lot of food on offer
[Eulah Creek, NSW, August 2011]

Close-up frontal view of a Striped Honeyeater foraging in a Cypress pine tree for small insects
[Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2015]

When a Striped Honeyeater forages in a wattle shrub or tree, as shown here, it is not looking for nectar, but for insects - in this case insects taking nectar from the wattle flowers (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Bowra Station, near Cunnamulla, QLD, September 2017]

Striped Honeyeater with pollen stuck to its chin (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Eulo Bore, Eulo, QLD, June 2022]

Striped Honeyeater drinking from a waterhole together with a White-eared Honeyeater, back right, and a Singing Honeyeater, front left
[Near Eulah Creek, NSW, September 2019]

Frontal view of a male Striped Honeyeater drinking from a bird bath
[Eulah Creek, NSW, January 2008]

Additional information

There is a separate page with a short description of psyllids and lerps.

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.

strphon_20210328.m4a	(NW NSW)	Contact call	© MD
strphon_20150808.m4a	(NW NSW)	Pair Q&A (duet)	© MD
strphon_20240525_2.m4a	(NW NSW)	Pair Q&A (duet)	© MD
strphon_20210508.m4a	(NW NSW)	Pair Q&A (distant first)	© MD
spinhon_20141003_2.mp3	(NW NSW)	"Song contest" (with Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater)	© MD
strphon_20190823.m4a	(NW NSW)	Alarm call (goanna)	© MD
strphon_20241225.m4a	(NW NSW)	Begging call (fledgling)	© MD
strphon_20210219_3.m4a	(NW NSW)	Begging calls chick1 + being fed + parent	© MD
strphon_20210219_2.m4a	(NW NSW)	Begging calls chick2	© MD
strphon_20210219.m4a	(NW NSW)	Begging calls chick2	© MD
strphon_20200719.m4a	(NW NSW)	?	© MD
strphon_20210102.m4a	(NW NSW)	?	© MD

Below a recording of three different species of honeyeaters competing for territorial supremacy: First to call is a Singing Honeyeater, with answers from a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater and then also a pair of Striped Honeyeaters.

singhon_20150911.mp3

(NW NSW)

Competing territorial calls

© MD

More Striped 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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