Like most honeyeaters in eastern and south-eastern Australia, the Yellow-faced Honeyeater is an active species, spending much time probing flowers or gleaning insects from the foliage of trees, but it is when they are on migration that they become conspicuous, congregating in large flocks, and thousands of birds may pass by in the space of an hour as they migrate north along the Great Divide each autumn and return south each spring. These migratory flocks often contain smaller numbers of other migratory species, especially White-naped Honeyeaters.
The Yellow-faced Honeyeater is a medium to small, plainly coloured honeyeater with a slightly down-curved bill. It is dark grey-brown above, and paler below with lighter streaks. It has a distinctive, broad yellow face stripe, bordered with black. The males are slightly larger but the sexes are otherwise similar. Young are paler with a brown iris, which will become blue when it is an adult. It can be seen in large flocks when migrating, and in smaller groups when feeding.
Loud, cheerful calls: series of ‘chick-up’ notes. Bird call recorded by: Marc Anderson
The Yellow-faced Honeyeater is widespread in eastern and south-eastern mainland Australia, from northern Queensland to eastern South Australia.
Habitat: Woodland, Coastal, Urban, Forest, Wetland
The Yellow-faced Honeyeater is found in open forests and woodlands, often near water and wetlands. It uses ridges, sand dunes, valleys and rivers when migrating. It is often found in urban areas, including in remnant bushland, as well as parks and gardens. It will use areas infested with weeds such as Scotch Broom and Blackberry.
When migrating, the Yellow-faced Honeyeater can be seen in large flocks, with several thousand birds passing every hour in some places. It has also been known to damage fruit in gardens and orchards.
Yellow-faced Honeyeaters feed on nectar, pollen, fruit, seeds, insects and their products. They tend to forage in the flowers and foliage of trees and shrubs, as well as mistletoe, and are rarely seen on the ground.
Breeding pairs of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters defend territories during the season. The female builds a neat, woven, sometimes fragile, cup from green materials such as moss, in the understorey of forests or in hedges, vines and other garden shrubs. She incubates the eggs alone, but both parents feed the young. The nests can be parasitised by the Shining and Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoos, as well as the Fan-tailed, Brush and, particularly, Pallid Cuckoos.
