Tawny-crowned Honeyeater

A species of the honeyeater family, perching birds that feed on insects and nectar. Tawny-crowned honeyeaters are sometimes observed hopping amongst plants on the ground to feed, considered as unusual behaviour amongst its near relations. It resembles the eastern and western spinebills and crescent honeyeater, but is distinguished by a tawny-colored crown above a white line separating the black markings of the face. The upper side of the body is a pale brown, becoming white plumage on the lower parts. They possess a long curved bill that is able to reach nectar at the base of flowers, and in some plants they have become the primary pollinator. The subspecies G. melanops chelidonia, an endemic of Tasmania, has a rufous tinge to its plumage.

The tawny-crowned honeyeater is found from the North Coast of New South Wales through to the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, as well as in Victoria and Tasmania. It also occurs in southwest Western Australia from Israelite Bay westwards. Its natural habitat is low shrubland and heath. It has become locally extinct in the urban Sydney area since 1971.