The red wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata ) is a passerine bird native to southern Australia. At 33–37 cm (13–14+1⁄2 in) in length, it is the second largest species of Australian honeyeater. It has mainly grey-brown plumage, with red eyes, distinctive pinkish-red wattles on either side of the neck, white streaks on the chest and a large bright yellow patch on the lower belly. The sexes are similar in plumage. Juveniles have less prominent wattles and browner eyes. John White described the red wattlebird in 1790. Three subspecies are recognized.
The species is found in southeast Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and southwest Western Australia in open forest and woodlands, and is a common visitor to urban gardens and parks. Loud and conspicuous, the red wattlebird is generally found in trees, where it gets most of its food; occasionally it forages on the ground. It is one of the largest nectarivorous birds in the world, feeding from a wide variety of flowering plants. Insects also comprise part of its diet. It is territorial and at times aggressive towards birds of other species, often defending rich sources of nectar. Breeding throughout its range, the red wattlebird builds a cup-shaped nest in a tree and raises one or two broods a year. Although it has declined in places from land-clearing, it is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
In zoology, a nectarivore is an animal that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of the sugar-...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
A territory is a sociographical area that which an animal consistently defends against the conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against anima...
Gliding flight is heavier-than-air flight without the use of thrust and is employed by gliding animals. Birds in particular use gliding flight to m...
Nomadic animals regularly move to and from the same areas within a well-defined range. Most animals travel in groups in search of better territorie...
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Partial MigrantPartial migration is when within a migratory species or even within a single population, some individuals migrate while others do not.
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Altitudinal MigrantAltitudinal migration is a short-distance animal migration from lower altitudes to higher altitudes and back. Altitudinal migrants change their ele...
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starts withThe sexes of the red wattlebird are similar in size and plumage, the length of the adult male ranging from 33 to 37 centimetres (13 to 15 in) and the adult female from 34 to 37 centimetres (13 to 15 in). With an average weight of 100–120 grams (3.5–4.2 oz), the red wattlebird is one of the largest nectar-feeding birds in the world, and the second largest species of honeyeater native to Australia, eclipsed only by the yellow wattlebird. The crown, forehead and upper lores (area between the eyes and nostrils) are dark brown, streaked with pale brown at the front of the crown and white at the rear of the crown. The nape (back of the neck) is slightly paler brown, with white streaks. A whitish triangular marking covers the lower lores and anterior ear covert feathers, bordered below by a dark brown stripe from the lower mandible down to the wattle and around to behind the eye. The throat is dark brown streaked with white. The iris of the eye is orange-red to crimson. The distinctive pinkish-red wattles dangle from the lower rear corner of the ear coverts on either side of the neck, and there is a sliver of pink bare skin at the lower border of the white patch on the face. The chest and belly are streaked white, and there is a bright yellow patch towards the tail. The strong legs and feet are pink or pinkish-brown, and the downward-curving bill is black. The average dimensions of the bill are 23.5 millimetres (0.93 in) long, 6.7 millimetres (0.26 in) wide, and 6.8 millimetres (0.27 in) high at its base. The gape is grey-black, while the inside of the mouth is orange. In common with other honeyeaters, the red wattlebird has a long, specialized tongue to extract nectar from flowers. The tongue can extend well beyond the tip of the bill, and is divided at the end to form a brush-like structure with over a hundred bristles that soak up nectar by capillary action.
The red wattlebird begins moulting after the breeding season, starting with the primary flight feathers in November or December, and finishing between the following March and May. The feathers of the breast, back, median and lesser covert feathers are moulted before those of the crown, remiges, and rectrices.
Immature red wattlebirds are generally less flamboyant. Juveniles have much less prominent wattles, brown irises, a pale crown, and much less yellow on the belly. They moult into first immature plumage within a few months of leaving the nest. First immature birds are more similar to adults overall, having red irises with brown rings, wattles larger but still smaller than adults, and a greyish pink gape.
The red wattlebird is hard to confuse with any other species, though in poor visibility it might be mistaken for the spiny-cheeked honeyeater, or little or western wattlebirds.
The red wattlebird is found in southeast Queensland, where it occurs south of Noosa and Cooloola, becoming more common south of Brisbane and Toowoomba. Further south into New South Wales it is found most places east of (and including) the Great Dividing Range and stretching west to the southern North-West Plain, Central Western Slopes and eastern Riverina, and is an occasional visitor to points along the Murray River valley. It is found across Victoria, though is uncommon in the northwest of the state. In South Australia, Devonborough Downs Station, Manunda, Wilpena Pound and Nullarbor Station mark the northern limits of its range. There are scattered records from the Nullarbor Plain, but the species is common in Western Australia west of 125 °E and south of 29 °S. The yellow wattlebird replaces it in Tasmania. The red wattlebird has become more common in some localities, such as the Sunraysia district in the 1960s, and Nambucca Heads and Lefevre Peninsula in the 1980s. Breeding numbers have increased in Sydney and Adelaide. The red wattlebird is a rare vagrant to New Zealand, with confirmed records at Matakana in 1865 and Rohutu, Taranaki, in 1885, and a third unconfirmed report from Motupiko in 1938.
The red wattlebird appears to be a permanent resident in much of its range, though its movements are poorly known. It appears to be partly migratory in Western Australia and the north coast of New South Wales. In southeastern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, it appears to move to lower altitudes for winter. For instance, birds vacate the Brindabella Range over the cooler months. Overall, little pattern is discernible in the species' movements, though red wattlebirds appear to move to feed on populations of flowering banksias and eucalypts, such as winter-flowering banksias in Perth over the cooler months. Large numbers arrive in time to feed on flowering native apples (Angophora ) in Mudgee and Cobbora districts in central-western New South Wales, and on white box (Eucalyptus albens ) at Barrington in central-northern New South Wales. A mainly resident population on the Swan Coastal Plain near Perth is supplemented during winter by more arriving from inland areas. South of Perth, red wattlebirds are more locally nomadic, moving to new patches of blooming wildflowers. East of Perth in areas around Kellerberin, Kwolyin, and Nangeenan, the red wattlebird is present from late autumn to spring, breeding in August and September. Around Lake Grace, the red wattlebird is present year-round.
Open sclerophyll forest and woodland, generally dominated by eucalypts, is the most common habitat of the species. It is more common in forests with ample shrubby or grassy understory. It is less commonly encountered in shrubland, heath, or margins of wet sclerophyll forest. It is rarely found in mature pine plantations. Within urban areas, it is abundant in parks and reserves, gardens and golf courses, as well as orchards and vineyards. It occasionally ventures into subtropical, semi-arid or subalpine regions, and has been found up to 1,900 m (6,000 ft) above sea level. The red wattlebird is rarer in forests that have been affected by dieback (infection by the pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi ).
A loud and active bird, the red wattlebird is found in pairs, in a small family group, or alone during the breeding season, and gathers in larger groups of up to several hundred birds over winter. It flies straight or with a slightly undulating pattern, alternating between gliding and flapping its wings with quick shallow beats, at or slightly above the level of the tree canopy. The red wattlebird moves on the ground by hopping, cocking its tail upwards slightly.
Aggressive and territorial, the red wattlebird defends its nest and sources of food against other birds. It either calls at, snaps at the tails of, or flies at other birds, sometimes scuffling with members of the same species or other large honeyeaters in the air. Displacement is a dominant display in which a red wattlebird will land on a perch that has been immediately vacated by another bird. A smaller red wattlebird adopts a horizontal appeasement posture side-on to the aggressor in which it lowers its head, flutters its wings and edges closer to the other bird.
As well as smaller bird species, red wattlebirds can mob and chase larger species, such as the Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen ), butcherbirds, currawongs, the black-faced cuckooshrike (Coracina novaehollandiae ), the olive-backed oriole (Oriolus sagittatus ), crows, ravens, the laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae ), and even small raptors like the collared sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus ).
The red wattlebird is predominantly a nectar-feeder, foraging mostly in trees; in particular, climbing along branches (rather than the trunk) and probing flower-heads with its bill. One study in Bondi State Forest in southern New South Wales revealed that the species foraged at a height of 5.9 ± 5.8 m (19 ± 19 ft). They seldom look for food on the ground, though do so to feed on shrubs such as the cats paw (Anigozanthos humilis ). The red wattlebird prioritises visiting flowers that produce a lot of nectar, such as those of eucalypts, banksias, grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea ), and emu bushes (Eremophila ). It often prefers plants with easy access to nectar, rather than those with tubular flowers (and thus difficult-to-access nectar). The red wattlebird seeks out yellow flower-heads of holly-leaved banksia (Banksia ilicifolia ), which have much higher nectar content than the more mature red flower-heads. The species forages much more often in native than exotic plants, though the introduced coral tree (Erythrina ) is popular. In addition to nectar, it takes insects and other small creatures, usually by hawking, and it also feeds on berries and other fruit. A field study in the Mount Lofty Ranges found that it spent twice as much time feeding on nectar compared to insects.
One field study found that red wattlebirds foraged for longer periods when nectar concentrations in flowers were low, and consumed fewer insects at this time. However, this could have been because the temperature was lower and hence insects were less active. In Gingin, Western Australia, 97% of red wattlebirds at a site of two mixed kangaroo paw species were observed feeding on a single species at its peak flowering: cats paw in August and red-and-green kangaroo paw (A. manglesii ) in September, with very few visits to the other species or hybrids.
In central New South Wales, the red wattlebird forages more often on the foliage of the grey gum (Eucalyptus punctata ) over other trees, though it does also show some preference for narrow-leaved ironbark (E. crebra ), if grey gum is not present. Red wattlebirds tend to oust noisy friarbirds (Philemon corniculatus ) where both species are present. The red wattlebird often forages alongside the New Holland honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae ), little friarbird (P. citreogularis ), western and little wattlebirds, rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus ), purple-crowned lorikeet (Glossopsitta porphyrocephala ), satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus ), pied currawong (Strepera graculina ), and crimson rosella (Platycercus elegans ), though they generally chase other nectar-feeding birds away from a horde of eucalypt flowers.
A field study, conducted in winter 1978 on Kangaroo Island, found red wattlebirds to be territorial around a rich source of nectar, namely a large cup gum (Eucalyptus cosmophylla ), driving off smaller honeyeaters. This indicated that the species would exclude other species, if food was scarce. In New England National Park, red wattlebirds would be more aggressive when there were moderate amounts of nectar in groves of flowering banksias, but were less so at lean or abundant times.
The red wattlebird has a brush-tipped tongue, with a 17 mm (5⁄8 in) long segment bearing around 120 individual bristles. It feeds by placing the bill in a flower and inserting the tongue into its nectar chamber, drawing the nectar up by capillary action. The bristles increase the surface area of the tongue available for the uptake of nectar.
The red wattlebird breeds throughout its range, with nesting taking place between July and December, though occasionally outside these months, if conditions are favourable. One or two broods are laid each year.
Red wattlebirds generally nest as solitary pairs. The nest is a cup-shaped structure formed from sticks and leaves, lined with bark, grass, and hair, between 2 and 16 metres (7 and 50 ft) above ground, usually in the forked branches of a tree—generally a eucalypt. The nest is usually located centrally rather than on the periphery of a tree. A study in Eastwood State Forest, near Armidale in New South Wales, found that red wattlebirds preferred to nest in manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis ) and apple box (E. bridgesiana ).
A clutch of two or three pale brown- and lavender-spotted pinkish eggs are normally laid. They measure 33 mm × 22 mm (1+1⁄4 in × 7⁄8 in), and are a tapered oval in shape. The eggs are normally incubated by both parents, but sometimes just by the female. They hatch after 16–21 days. The chicks are born almost naked, with a small amount of grey down on their head and body. They are mostly brooded by the female, but sometimes the male will also brood. The nestlings are fed by both parents, and occasionally immature birds will contribute. Their eyes open at around 7 days. They fledge 15–20 days after hatching, and both parents continue to feed them for a further 2–3 weeks. Young are given manna (crystallised plant sap) and insects, such as beetles, bugs, and flies.
