18

Yellow-plumed Honeyeater (Ptilotula ornata) Alternate name(s): "Mallee Honeyeater" Aboriginal name(s): "miamit" (WA) Size: 15-17 cm Body mass: 13-18 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 Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters are small nectar-eating birds. Their front, from the throat to the undertail coverts, is light-grey with darker grey streaking. The top of the head is olive-green, with darker grey patches around the eye and on the ear coverts. Below the ear coverts they have a broad, yellow plume that reaches far around the neck. The back is greyish-brown, with olive-green leading edges on the flight feathers and an olive-green uppertail. The irises are brown. During the breeding season the lightly down-curved bill is entirely black, while in eclipse the base of the lower mandible and the gape are yellow. The legs and feet are grey. Juvenile birds have a less conspicuous plume and a black-tipped yellow-orange bill.

Taxonomy, classification See Yellow-plumed 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 Yellow-plumed Honeyeater is available HERE . Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters are endemic to southern Australia. Their distribution is shaped like a wide strip, mostly along the South coast, from the Murray River catchment in NSW into southern SA, including Eyre Peninsula and towards the Nullarbor (where they are rarely found). The distribution continues along the Eucla coast of WA, into the south-western corner of WA, including a near-quadratic area encompassing both Kalgoorlie and Perth, with the exception of the far south-western tip of the continent and a narrow coastal strip North of Perth, WA. Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters prefer mallee-type and other sclerophyll woodland.

Sightings Click here for sighting information B. Hensen reports spotting a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater at Cocopara NP, NSW, in November 2012. J. Greaves reports spotting Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters at Collins Road, near Westdale, 80 km to the East of Perth, WA, in October 2016, and at Dryandra Woodlands, near Narrogin, WA, in May 2018. R. Plumtree found Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters at the Mulga Dam Camping Area, Kamarooka State Park, VIC, in October 2018, and near Kelly Road cemetery, Linga, on the Mallee Highway, VIC, in November 2018. M. Eaton reports spotting a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater at Lake Gilles, SA, in June 2023.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

BREEDING

Near-frontal portrait of a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Collins Road, near Westdale, 80 km East of Perth, WA, October 2016]

Near-frontal view of a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Collins Road, near Westdale, 80 km East of Perth, WA, October 2016]

Near-lateral view of a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Lake Gilles, SA, June 2023]

Near-lateral view of a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Near Kelly Road cemetery, Linga, on the Mallee Highway, VIC, November 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Near Kelly Road cemetery, Linga, on the Mallee Highway, VIC, November 2018]

Near-lateral/ventral view of a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Collins Road, near Westdale, 80 km East of Perth, WA, October 2016]

View of the back of a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Collins Road, near Westdale, 80 km East of Perth, WA, October 2016]

Ventral and dorsal views, respectively, of Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Collins Road, near Westdale, 80 km East of Perth, WA, October 2016]

Near-lateral view of a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater in breeding plumage launching itself into the air
(photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Near Kelly Road cemetery, Linga, on the Mallee Highway, VIC, November 2018]

Ventral view of a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater in breeding plumage just after take-off (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Mulga Dam Camping Area, Kamarooka State Park, VIC, October 2018]

NON-BREEDING

Ventral view of a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater in non-breeding plumage - note the pale base of the bill, paired with prominent (adult) plume (photo courtesy of J. Greaves)
[Dryandra Woodlands, near Narrogin, WA, May 2018]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Lateral view of a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater; note the yellow base of the bill and thin eye-ring and the inconspicuous yellow plume characteristic of juvenile birds (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Cocopara NP, NSW, November 2012]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Sedentary/dispersive

Elementary unit: Pair/family clan/mob

Food, Diet

Yellow-plumed Honeyeater, back and Yellow-tufted Honeyeater having a drink from a shallow waterhole
(photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Mulga Dam Camping Area, Kamarooka State Park, VIC, October 2018]

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.

yelphon_me_20230619.mp3

(S SA)

Various (break of dawn)

© MD

More Yellow-plumed 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.