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18

Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (Glyciphila melanops) Alternate name(s): "Fulvous-fronted Honey-eater", "Rufous-fronted Honeyeater" Aboriginal name(s): "melanops": "boolet", "wyrodjodong" (WA) Size: 16-17 cm Weight: 16-22 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 Lewin's Honeyeater Yellow-faced Honeyeater Graceful Honeyeater Bridled Honeyeater Eungella Honeyeater Singing Honeyeater Mangrove Honeyeater Varied Honeyeater White-lined Honeyeater White-gaped Honeyeater White-eared Honeyeater Yellow 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 Brown Honeyeater Bar-breasted Honeyeater Brown-backed Honeyeater Rufous-throated Honeyeater Grey Honeyeater Tawny-crowned Honeyeater Rufous-banded 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 Olive-backed 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 Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters are small nectar-eating birds. Their front (throat, centre of chest, belly and vent) is white, with some darker streaking on the belly. A prominent dark-brown eye-stripe extends over the ear coverts and down the sides, towards brown streaked flanks. The crown, above white eyebrows, is tawny. The back is brownish, with dark grey-brown flight feathers that have olive leading edges. The irises are brown. The long, down-curved bill is black, while the legs and feet are grey. Juveniles have a yellow throat and more brownish colours on the back.

Taxonomy, classification See Tawny-crowned 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 Tawny-crowned Honeyeater is available HERE . There are two races of Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters, both of which are endemic to Australia. Nominate race "melanops" populates several parts of the southern half of the continent. Next to a population South of the Hunter River, NSW, to Woolongong, NSW, and into the Great Dividing Range within that coastal range, there is a population along the South coast of VIC, the lower parts of the Murray Darling Basin in VIC/NSW and the south-eastern corner of SA (including Eyre peninsula). A third population exists in the south-west corner of WA, with a boundary line from about Esperance to Geraldton. Race "melanops" is also found on islands along Bass Strait and along the North-East and East coast of Tasmania. The range of race "chelidonia" is restricted to only the West and North-West coast of Tasmania. Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters have a strong preference for heathland.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "melanops" B. Hensen reports spotting Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters, race "melanops", at Wattamolla, Royal NP, NSW, in June 2013. We first spotted Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters, race "melanops", at Munmorah SCA in July 2013. In June 2015 we also spotted Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters, race "melanops", at Wattamolla, Royal NP, NSW. B. Hensen's help with these observations is gratefully acknowledged. J. Greaves reports spotting a Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters, race "melanops", at Arpenteur NR, near Albany, WA, in February 2018. M. Eaton found a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, race "melanops", at Cape Bruny Lighthouse, Bruny Island, TAS, in April 2021. M. Eaton also spotted a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, race "melanops", at Monarto Conservation Park, near Murray Bridge, SA, in April 2022.

Photos

Race "melanops"

ADULT

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Monarto Conservation Park, near Murray Bridge, SA, April 2022]

Near-frontal view of a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Monarto Conservation Park, near Murray Bridge, SA, April 2022]

Near-frontal view of a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater looking downwards, with a clear view of its tawny crown
(photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Arpenteur NR, near Albany, WA, February 2018]

Lateral view of a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Royal NP, NSW, June 2013]

Lateral view of a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater issuing its call
[Wattamolla, Royal NP, NSW, June 2015]

Dorsal view of a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Royal NP, NSW, June 2013]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Near-frontal view of an immature Tawny-crowned Honeyeater; this bird has lost much of the rufous fringe pattern on the back and the facial mask is dark, but the chin still shows some yellow (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cape Bruny Lighthouse, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Near-dorsal view of an immature Tawny-crowned Honeyeater; this bird has lost much of the rufous fringe pattern on the back and the facial mask is dark, but the chin still shows some yellow (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cape Bruny Lighthouse, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Dorsal view of an immature Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cape Bruny Lighthouse, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Lateral view of a juvenile Tawny-crowned Honeyeater looking at the observer (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cape Bruny Lighthouse, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Lateral view of a juvenile Tawny-crowned Honeyeater; note the brown facial mask, rather than black (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cape Bruny Lighthouse, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cape Bruny Lighthouse, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cape Bruny Lighthouse, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, now seen preening (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Cape Bruny Lighthouse, Bruny Island, TAS, April 2021]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Dispersive

Elementary unit: Solitary/pair

Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters are often found in heath, but we have also found them along sparsely vegetated fringes on Hawkesbury Sandstone.

Tawny-crowned Honeyeater on a Hawkesbury Sandstone rock platform
[Wattamolla, Royal NP, NSW, June 2015]

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.

twnchon_20150611.m4a	melanops (E NSW)	Contact call?	© MD
twnchon_20150611_2.m4a	melanops (E NSW)	Contact call?	© MD
twnchon_20150611_3.m4a	melanops (E NSW)	Contact call?	© MD

More Tawny-crowned 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.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Sun, 24 April 2022, 11:29 +00:00