Western spinebill

First described by John Gould in 1837, the western spinebill is a monotypic species, with only one form found across its range. It forms a superspecies with the closely related eastern spinebill.{{cite book |title=Directory of Australian Birds: Passerines |first1=Richard |last1=Schodde |first2=I. J. |last2=Mason |year=1999 |publisher=CSIRO |location=Collingwood, VIC, Australia |isbn=978-0-643-10293-4}} Scientists believe the two sister species are descended from a shared ancestor whose once widespread populations were separated by climate change. During a past period of desertification, that ancestor species retreated to refuges in the southwestern and southeastern corners of the continent, and evolved into the two present-day spinebill species.{{cite book |title=Speciation and Biogeography of Birds |first1=Ian |last1=Newton |pages=341–42 |isbn=978-0-08-092499-1 |year=2003 |location=San Diego, CA |publisher=Academic Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHzT7a8LzkgC&pg=PA342}} Recent DNA studies have shown that the two spinebills belong to a clade which is a sister taxon to all other honeyeaters.{{cite book |title=Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds |first1=Les |last1=Christidis |first2=Walter |last2=Boles |location=Collingwood, VIC, Australia |publisher=CSIRO |year=2008 |page=186 |isbn=978-0-643-06511-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SFP9P1i-PoEC&pg=PA186}}

The two are members of the genus Acanthorhynchus, from the Ancient Greek akantha, meaning 'spine' and rhunkhos, meaning 'bill'.{{harvnb|Jobling|2010|p=30}} The specific name superciliosus is Latin for 'eyebrowed', a reference to the male's bold white supercilium.{{harvnb|Jobling|2010|p=374}} Early settler George Fletcher Moore reported that the Noongar, southwestern Australia's indigenous people, called this species "buljit".{{cite book |title=Diary of Ten Years Eventful Life of an Early Settler in Western Australia |year=1884 |first=George Fletcher |last=Moore |page=[https://archive.org/details/diarytenyearsev00moorgoog/page/n123 101] |url=https://archive.org/details/diarytenyearsev00moorgoog |publisher=M. Walbrook |location=London, UK |isbn=9780855641375 |lccn=43042806}}

Image:Acanthorhynchus superciliosus.jpg

The western spinebill is a small honeyeater with a slender, curved bill. It ranges in length from {{convert|12|to|16|cm|in|abbr=on}},{{cite book |title=Birds of Australia |first1=Graham |last1=Pizzey |first2=Frank |last2=Knight |year=1998 |isbn= 0-00-220132-1 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |page=396}}{{cite book |title=Field Guide to the Birds of Australia |first1=Ken |last1=Simpson |first2=Nicolas |last2=Day |year=1984 |publisher=Christopher Helm |location=London, UK |page=240 |isbn=978-0-7470-3023-2}}{{#tag:ref|By convention, length is measured from the tip of the bill to the tip of the tail on a dead bird (or skin) laid on its back.{{cite book |title=Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: Birds of the Western Palearctic, Volume 1, Ostrich to Ducks |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1977 |isbn=0-19-857358-8 |editor=Cramp, Stanley |page=3}}|group="nb"}} and in weight from {{convert|8|–|11|g|oz|abbr=on}}.{{harvnb|Higgins|Christidis|Ford|2008|p=583}} Males are, on average, slightly larger than females. The sexes differ somewhat in plumage. The male is dark olive-grey above with a chestnut nape. Below, his throat and breast are chestnut, edged below with a white band and a black band; his abdomen is buff. He has a white eyebrow and a black mask, and white outer tail feathers which are 'flirted' in flight. The female is plainer, with a pale rufous nape. Her throat and underparts are variously described as rufous-buff or pale grey,{{cite book |title=The Slater Field Guide to Australian Birds |first1=Peter |last1=Slater |first2=Pat |last2=Slater |first3=Raoul |last3=Slater |year=2003 |publisher=Reed New Holland |location=Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia |page=294 |isbn=978-1-877069-00-0}} and she lacks the distinctive banding of the male. The immature resembles a plainer female, though with a yellow base to the bill.

The high, shrill, staccato piping of the western spinebill is transcribed as {{not a typo|kleet-kleet}} or {{not a typo|kleat-kleat}}.

Endemic to the southwestern corner of Western Australia, the western spinebill is found from north of Jurien Bay to Israelite Bay, and inland to an arc described by Moora, Corrigin and Lake Grace. It is common in the understorey of heaths, coastal scrub, woodlands and forest, and in Banksia thickets.

The species is kept in Western Australian aviaries, as the sister species Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris of the east is held in captivity in Sydney, due to the local species being available to avicultural enthusiasts of honeyeaters.{{cite book |last=Shephard|first=Mark |title=Aviculture in Australia: Keeping and Breeding Aviary Birds |year=1989 |publisher=Black Cockatoo Press |location=Prahran, Victoria |isbn=978-0-9588106-0-9 |pages=241}}

File:Banksia ilicifolia inflorescence 2.jpg are a favourite nectar source.]]

The western spinebill is known to be locally nomadic.

Like other honeyeaters, the western spinebill feeds primarily on nectar. It feeds for longer time periods—and ingests more nectar—in the first 60 to 90 minutes of each day than it does later in the day.{{cite journal |title=Feeding Behaviour and Energetics of the Western Spinebill, Acanthorhynchus superciliosis (Aves: Meliphagidae) |first1=B. G. |last1=Collins |first2=H. |last2=Clow |journal=Australian Journal of Zoology |url=http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/ZO9780269.htm |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=269–277 |doi=10.1071/zo9780269|year=1978 }}

Banksia ilicifolia is particularly sought over other banksias,{{cite journal|author=Whelan, Robert J.|author2=Burbidge, Allan H. |year=1980|title=Flowering phenology, seed set and bird pollination of five Western Australian Banksia species|journal=Austral Ecology|volume=5|issue=1|pages=1–7|doi=10.1111/j.1442-9993.1980.tb01225.x|first1=Robert J.|bibcode=1980AusEc...5....1W }} which may be foraged, including B. menziesii (although birds do not congregate in greater numbers when this species is flowering), and B. sessilis.{{Cite journal | last1 = Collins | first1 = Brian G. | last2 = Grey | first2 = James | doi = 10.1080/00306525.1989.9639614 | title = Preferential Foraging by Honeyeaters in the Jarrah Forest of Western Australia | journal = Ostrich | volume = 60 | pages = 39–47 | year = 1989 | bibcode = 1989Ostri..60S..39C }} The western spinebill has been observed foraging at flower spikes lower down in the tree canopy, possibly to avoid larger and more aggressive honeyeaters.{{cite journal|last=Ramsey|first=M.W.|year=1989|title=The seasonal abundance and foraging behaviour of honeyeaters and their potential role in the pollination of Banksia menziesii|journal=Australian Journal of Ecology|volume=14|issue=1|pages=33–40|doi=10.1111/j.1442-9993.1989.tb01006.x |issn=0307-692X}}

The western spinebill breeds primarily from September to January, though eggs have been noted as early as August, and fledglings as late as March. The female, only very occasionally with help from the male, builds a tidy cup nest from bark, grass, plant stems, and plant down, bound with spider webs to a low bush or tree. The nest, which is sometimes conspicuous, is typically located {{convert|1|–|5|m|ft|abbr=on}} off the ground. The female lays 1–2 eggs, which measure {{convert|17|x|13|mm|in|abbr=on}} on average. These are pinkish or bluish with spots and blotches of chestnut or purplish-brown. The eggs are incubated primarily by the female, only very occasionally by the male. Nestlings are fed by both parents, and fledge after 15 days or so. Both parents continue to feed the fledglings for some time after they leave the nest. The species is one of many known to host the offspring of the pallid cuckoo, a brood parasite.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names |url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling |first=James A. |last=Jobling |location=London, UK |publisher=Christopher Helm |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4}}
• {{cite book |series=Handbook of Birds of the World |volume=13 |title=Penduline-tits to Shrikes |chapter=Family Meliphagidae (Honeyeaters) |first1=P. J. |last1=Higgins |first2=Les |last2=Christidis |first3=Hugh A. |last3=Ford |year=2008 |editor1-first=Josep |editor1-last=del Hoyo |editor2-first=Andrew |editor2-last=Elliott |editor3-first=David |editor3-last=Christie |location=Barcelona, Spain |publisher=Lynx Edicions |isbn=978-84-96553-45-3}}

{{commons category|Acanthorhynchus superciliosus}}

{{Wikispecies|Acanthorhynchus superciliosus}}

• {{cite web |title=Western spinebill media |date= |publisher=Internet Bird Collection |url=http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/western-spinebill-acanthorhynchus-superciliosus }}
• {{cite web |title=Western spinebill |date= |publisher=Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology Macauley Library |url=https://search.macaulaylibrary.org/catalog?taxonCode=wesspi1&q=Western%20Spinebill%20-%20Acanthorhynchus%20superciliosus }} (Images, audio & video).
• {{cite web |title=Acanthorhynchus superciliosus Gould, 1837 Western Spinebill |publisher=Atlas of Living Australia |url=https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:c9bff64a-a66b-4705-99d8-b97a8cbe1246}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1300481}}

western spinebill

Category:Endemic birds of Southwest Australia

western spinebill