Critter Corner – Macleay’s Honeyeater

Macleay’s Honeyeater © James (Jim) Holmes

#CritterCorner – Macleay’s honeyeater (Xanthotis macleayanus) is a honeyeater endemic to Australia. If you’re in Northern Queensland, from Cooktown to the southern end of the Paluma Range, keep an eye on the sky as you may spot these beauties amongst tropical dry forests and/or  tropical moist lowland forests.

Macleay’s honeyeaters enjoy a diet of insects, nectar, and fresh fruits. During the process of gathering nectar, they also assist the forest flora though pollination.

Considered a medium sized honeyeater, Macleay’s honeyeaters are brown with small white speckles on the back of their neck and larger white spots on their back, while their underside is more of an olive shade with (very fashionable) white streaks. Macleay’s honeyeaters also sport a lovely black cap atop their heads, have grey throats, and some orangish & yellowish coloured feathers around their eyes.

These beauties have a lovely, cheery sounding song – we’ve included an audio snippet from Animalia below.

The Macleay’s honeyeater is listed as ‘Least Concern’ on the IUCN Red List and their population is considered stable.

Information sourced from Atlas of Living Australia, BirdLife International, and eBird.org.

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