Do you like bananas? For most people, the answer is simple: a resounding “yes” and yet there are plenty who absolutely hate their smell and taste. Bananas grow really well on the Kurilpa peninsula and pocket-sized peninsula gardens produce hefty supplies of this herby-fruity delicacy. You can often see honeyeaters enjoying the nectar of your banana tree’s flowers.
The Blue-faced Honeyeater is at the larger end of the honeyeater scale, a little larger than its distant cousin, the Noisy Miner. It has a long decurved, pale honeyeater bill with a black tip, differentiating it from the stubbier bill of the more numerous Miners. It has a vibrant golden olive back and a creamy underbelly with a black bib that starts under its bill. Its underwings are black, white and green. All the action is at its head and neck: the adult has a 60s blue mascara eye patch that highlights its white iris – stunningly set in a black head with a white crescent patch at its nape. Immature birds swap the bright blue eye patch for a lurid green and yellow version, which transitions to turquoise as the birds age.
These birds live and breed year-round on our peninsula. They particularly love nesting in Kentia Palms, imported from Lord Howe Island. They are gregarious and aggressive, so they will fight for their preferred spot. They are also known to refurbish nests of other species. The nest is a loose aggregation of bark, sticks and grass that feeds the palm as the nest decomposes. Here, the adult birds will initially raise two to three young on grubs before weaning them onto nectar and fruit, as they get older.
These birds are true honeyeaters, favouring the nectar from flowering plants – both native and exotic. This is where the banana trees are particularly attractive. Next time your banana plant flowers, watch for these large, noisy birds as they enjoy your banana flowers and their nectar.
For more information: https://fauna.com.au/species-profiles/blue-faced-honeyeater-entomyzon-cyanotis/
Bird Nerd
Photo Credit: Pablo Silber: Blue-faced Honeyeater in a Kurilpa back yard (Apologies to the photographer for making the banana flower grow horizontally rather than vertically, as it does in the garden)
