fuscous honeyeater
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2023}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Fuscous honeyeater
| image = Ptilotula fusca - Glen Alice.jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Ptilotula
| species = fusca
| authority = (Gould, 1837)
| synonyms = Lichenostomus fuscus
}}
The fuscous honeyeater (Ptilotula fusca) is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae.
It is endemic to eastern Australia, where it inhabits subtropical and tropical dry forests.
The fuscous honeyeater was previously placed in the genus Lichenostomus, but was moved to Ptilotula after a molecular phylogenetic analysis, published in 2011, showed that the original genus was polyphyletic.{{cite journal | last1=Nyári | first1=Á.S. | last2=Joseph | first2=L. | year= 2011 |title= Systematic dismantlement of Lichenostomus improves the basis for understanding relationships within the honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) and historical development of Australo–Papuan bird communities |journal= Emu | volume= 111 | issue=3 | pages=202–211 |doi=10.1071/mu10047| s2cid=85333285 }}{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | title=Honeyeaters | work= World Bird List Version 6.1 | url= http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/honeyeaters/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union| access-date= 28 January 2016 }}
Description
The fuscous honeyeater is dull grey-brown to olive-brown above with buffy-grey underparts. The bill is black and the eye-ring dark. It has a small black and yellow plume formed by the rear edge of the ear coverts.Morcombe, Michael (2012) Field Guide to Australian Birds. Pascal Press, Glebe, NSW. Revised edition. {{ISBN|978174021417-9}}
Similar species include grey-fronted honeyeater, yellow-plumed honeyeater and white-plumed honeyeater.{{cite web |url=https://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Lichenostomus-fuscus |title=Fuscous Honeyeater |work=Birdlife Australia | access-date = 16 August 2023}}Tzaros, C. (2021) Wildlife of the Box-Ironbark Country. 2nd Edition, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, Victoria, {{ISBN|9781486313150}}
=Call=
They have numerous calls, notably a distinctive rollicking arig arig a taw taw, a clear flutey cheer tor cheer and an incessant chip contact call.Menkhorst, P., Rogers, D., Clarke, R., Davies, J., Marsack, P., Franklin, K. (2019) The Australian Bird Guide: Revised Edition, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, Victoria, {{ISBN|9781486311934}}
Ecology and behaviour
Fuscous honeyeaters live in colonies in dry eucalypt forest and woodland, mostly inland of the Great Dividing Range, but in New South Wales and Queensland also in coastal heathy forest. They are sometimes also found in gardens, and in patches of remnant forest on farms.
They are mostly sedentary, though will make some nomadic movements in response to drought and flowering of eucalypts. In the southeast of their range, they make some seasonal altitudinal movements, moving down from higher regions in during colder months.
=Diet=
Fuscous honeyeaters are mainly insectivorous, foraging actively mainly in outer and upper foliage, branches and trunks of eucalypts, and taking insects on the wing. They also feed opportunistically on nectar, including from eucalypts and mistletoes, lerp and honeydew.
File:Fuscous Honeyeater (Lichenostomus fuscus) (16119994706).jpg
Conservation status
The species is listed under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a species of Least Concern.
References
{{Commons category|Ptilotula fusca}}
{{Wikispecies|Lichenostomus fuscus}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q27075255}}
Category:Birds of New South Wales
Category:Birds of Victoria (state)