Honeyeater is the name of more than 100 species (kinds) of land birds. Most honeyeaters live in Australia and New Guinea, but some are found on islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Honeyeaters have a long, tube-shaped tongue with brushlike edges. This tongue is especially suited for eating nectar from flowers. When honeyeaters are looking for nectar, they sometimes carry pollen from one plant to another (see Pollen). The birds also eat berries, fruits, and insects, but they digest nectar faster. Honeyeaters may get intoxicated and cannot fly if the nectar they eat has been fermented (turned into alcohol) by rain and sunlight.
Most honeyeaters are greenish- or grayish-brown with yellow or white marks on their heads. However, several species are mostly black and white. They range from about 3 to 20 inches (7 to 50 centimeters) long. Most honeyeaters live in forests and build cup-shaped nests in trees and bushes. They lay one to four eggs at a time. The color of the eggs ranges from white to pale pink, with blotches and spots colored black, brown, purple, or red. The eggs hatch after about two weeks. Some species can sing well, but most honeyeaters make only harsh, unpleasant noises.
Loading the player...Honeyeater
Several bird species that once lived in Hawaii were also called honeyeaters, but they were not closely related to true honeyeaters. The last of the Hawaiian honeyeaters probably went extinct in the mid-1980’s.
