New Holland Honeyeater - Phylidonyris novaehollandiae
Apr 1, 2020 3:47:56 GMT
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Post by Eaglehawk on Apr 1, 2020 3:47:56 GMT
New Holland Honeyeater - Phylidonyris novaehollandiae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Meliphagidae
Genus: Phylidonyris
Species: Phylidonyris novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790)
The New Holland honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae) is a honeyeater species found throughout southern Australia. It was among the first birds to be scientifically described in Australia, and was initially named Certhia novaehollandiae.
Description
The bird is around 18 centimeters long and is mainly black, with a white iris, white facial tufts and yellow margins on its wing and tail feathers. It is a very active bird and rarely sits long enough to give an extended view. When danger approaches a New Holland honeyeater, such as a bird of prey, a group of honeyeaters will form together and give a warning call. Sexes are similar in looks with the exception that females are, on average, slightly smaller. Young honeyeaters (<1 year old) have similar colouring but have grey eyes and a yellow gape and "whiskers" near the nares. They appear to be a socially monogamous bird with no sign of co-operative breeding, but this observation is yet to be examined.
Breeding
The breeding behaviour of the New Holland honeyeater has been relatively well documented. In southern and eastern Australia, breeding commonly occurs during autumn and spring, although certain coastal populations may breed at any time of the year given suitable conditions, including sufficient food and absence of adverse weather. In Western Australia, New Holland honeyeaters have been observed to breed once annually from July to November, when nectar is abundant.
In breeding territories, males spend a large proportion of their time defending the nest and food resources, while the females invest a large proportion of their time in reproductive labour including nest construction, incubation, and a majority of the nestling care. However, these roles are not completely strict (Lambert and Oorebeek, observation). It is also common for females to utilise food resources that are in close proximity to the nest, while males venture further afield, toward the outskirts of the territory. They primarily feed on nectar, although a large part of their diet may also consist of insects.
Diet
New Holland honeyeaters obtain most of their carbohydrate requirements from the nectar of flowers. Consequently, they are key pollinators of many flowering plant species, many of which are endemic to Australia, such as Banksia, Hakea, Xanthorrhoea, and Acacia. New Holland honeyeaters may also consume honeydew, a sugary secretion produced by members of the family Psyllidae. Despite feeding primarily on nectar, New Holland honeyeaters are not strictly nectarivorous. Nectar does not contain protein, so New Holland honeyeaters must supplement their diet with invertebrates, such as spiders and insects that are rich in protein. They sometimes feed alone but usually gather in groups.
Species
There are currently five described subspecies of Phylidonyris novaehollandiae:
P. novaehollandiae novaehollandiae (South-eastern mainland Australia; Latham, 1790)
P. novaehollandiae canescens (Tasmania; Latham, 1790),
P. novaehollandiae campbelli (Kangaroo Island, South Australia; Matthews, 1923)
P. novaehollandiae longirostris (Western Australia; Gould, 1846)
P. novaehollandiae caudatus (Bass Strait islands; Salomonsen, 1966).
Honeyeaters send lightning-fast warning signals
by Australian National University
Credit: Jessica McLachlan
New Holland honeyeaters are experts at sounding the alarm when there's danger, according to new research from biologists at The Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Cambridge.
Study authors, Dr. Jessica McLachlan and Professor Rob Magrath, found honeyeaters can spread the word in the blink of an eye, using a two-stage alarm.
It's particularly effective when they are threatened by fast-moving birds of prey.
"When a hawk is swooping down, its target has only a fraction of a second to flee to cover—a split second can make the difference between life and death," Dr. McLachlan said.
"But animals often signal urgent danger using repeated notes, which makes sure others hear the warning but it takes a long time to deliver.
"So there's a problem. How to send a lightning-fast message in a long call?"
New Holland honeyeaters solve this problem elegantly. They 'front-load' information about urgency into the first note of their alarm call, so other honeyeaters can respond quickly.
The clever honeyeaters follow this up with more notes to reinforce the message and signal how long to remain hidden.
"They use a long call, with lots of notes, to make sure the message is heard," Professor Magrath said. "And the more notes, the more urgent the danger.
"But they also modify the first note to indicate if it's necessary to take immediate cover. So it's a two-part message that is quick, reliable and informative."
The technique is so effective the authors expect to see other species adopt it.
"Many other species modify alarm calls as the threat increases, but there is surprisingly little known about how fast they convey the message," Professor Magrath said.
The researchers conducted their study in Canberra's Australian National Botanic Gardens over a period of several years.
"These birds live in the Gardens and are used to having people around. This helped us to record natural interactions with their predators, such as sparrowhawks and currawongs, and to video the honeyeaters' responses to different alarm calls," Professor Magrath said.
The research is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.2772
Journal Reference
Jessica R. McLachlan et al. Speedy revelations: how alarm calls can convey rapid, reliable information about urgent danger, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2772
Abstract
In the perpetual struggle between high-speed predators and their prey, individuals need to react in the blink of an eye to avoid capture. Alarm calls that warn of danger therefore need to do so sufficiently rapidly that listeners can escape in time. Paradoxically, many species produce more elements in their alarm calls when signalling about more immediate danger, thereby increasing the reliability of transmission of critical information but taking longer to convey the urgent message. We found that New Holland honeyeaters, Phylidonyris novaehollandiae, incorporated more elements in alarm calls given to more dangerous predators, but video analysis revealed that listeners responded in 100 ms, after only the first element. Consistent with this rapid response, the acoustic structure of the first element varied according to the danger, and playbacks confirmed that birds need hear only the first element to assess risk. However, birds hid for longer and were more likely to flee, after calls with more elements. The dual mechanisms of varying both element structure and number may provide a widespread solution to signalling rapidly and reliably about immediate danger.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.2772
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Meliphagidae
Genus: Phylidonyris
Species: Phylidonyris novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790)
The New Holland honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae) is a honeyeater species found throughout southern Australia. It was among the first birds to be scientifically described in Australia, and was initially named Certhia novaehollandiae.
Description
The bird is around 18 centimeters long and is mainly black, with a white iris, white facial tufts and yellow margins on its wing and tail feathers. It is a very active bird and rarely sits long enough to give an extended view. When danger approaches a New Holland honeyeater, such as a bird of prey, a group of honeyeaters will form together and give a warning call. Sexes are similar in looks with the exception that females are, on average, slightly smaller. Young honeyeaters (<1 year old) have similar colouring but have grey eyes and a yellow gape and "whiskers" near the nares. They appear to be a socially monogamous bird with no sign of co-operative breeding, but this observation is yet to be examined.
Breeding
The breeding behaviour of the New Holland honeyeater has been relatively well documented. In southern and eastern Australia, breeding commonly occurs during autumn and spring, although certain coastal populations may breed at any time of the year given suitable conditions, including sufficient food and absence of adverse weather. In Western Australia, New Holland honeyeaters have been observed to breed once annually from July to November, when nectar is abundant.
In breeding territories, males spend a large proportion of their time defending the nest and food resources, while the females invest a large proportion of their time in reproductive labour including nest construction, incubation, and a majority of the nestling care. However, these roles are not completely strict (Lambert and Oorebeek, observation). It is also common for females to utilise food resources that are in close proximity to the nest, while males venture further afield, toward the outskirts of the territory. They primarily feed on nectar, although a large part of their diet may also consist of insects.
Diet
New Holland honeyeaters obtain most of their carbohydrate requirements from the nectar of flowers. Consequently, they are key pollinators of many flowering plant species, many of which are endemic to Australia, such as Banksia, Hakea, Xanthorrhoea, and Acacia. New Holland honeyeaters may also consume honeydew, a sugary secretion produced by members of the family Psyllidae. Despite feeding primarily on nectar, New Holland honeyeaters are not strictly nectarivorous. Nectar does not contain protein, so New Holland honeyeaters must supplement their diet with invertebrates, such as spiders and insects that are rich in protein. They sometimes feed alone but usually gather in groups.
Species
There are currently five described subspecies of Phylidonyris novaehollandiae:
P. novaehollandiae novaehollandiae (South-eastern mainland Australia; Latham, 1790)
P. novaehollandiae canescens (Tasmania; Latham, 1790),
P. novaehollandiae campbelli (Kangaroo Island, South Australia; Matthews, 1923)
P. novaehollandiae longirostris (Western Australia; Gould, 1846)
P. novaehollandiae caudatus (Bass Strait islands; Salomonsen, 1966).
Honeyeaters send lightning-fast warning signals
by Australian National University
Credit: Jessica McLachlan
New Holland honeyeaters are experts at sounding the alarm when there's danger, according to new research from biologists at The Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Cambridge.
Study authors, Dr. Jessica McLachlan and Professor Rob Magrath, found honeyeaters can spread the word in the blink of an eye, using a two-stage alarm.
It's particularly effective when they are threatened by fast-moving birds of prey.
"When a hawk is swooping down, its target has only a fraction of a second to flee to cover—a split second can make the difference between life and death," Dr. McLachlan said.
"But animals often signal urgent danger using repeated notes, which makes sure others hear the warning but it takes a long time to deliver.
"So there's a problem. How to send a lightning-fast message in a long call?"
New Holland honeyeaters solve this problem elegantly. They 'front-load' information about urgency into the first note of their alarm call, so other honeyeaters can respond quickly.
The clever honeyeaters follow this up with more notes to reinforce the message and signal how long to remain hidden.
"They use a long call, with lots of notes, to make sure the message is heard," Professor Magrath said. "And the more notes, the more urgent the danger.
"But they also modify the first note to indicate if it's necessary to take immediate cover. So it's a two-part message that is quick, reliable and informative."
The technique is so effective the authors expect to see other species adopt it.
"Many other species modify alarm calls as the threat increases, but there is surprisingly little known about how fast they convey the message," Professor Magrath said.
The researchers conducted their study in Canberra's Australian National Botanic Gardens over a period of several years.
"These birds live in the Gardens and are used to having people around. This helped us to record natural interactions with their predators, such as sparrowhawks and currawongs, and to video the honeyeaters' responses to different alarm calls," Professor Magrath said.
The research is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.2772
Journal Reference
Jessica R. McLachlan et al. Speedy revelations: how alarm calls can convey rapid, reliable information about urgent danger, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2772
Abstract
In the perpetual struggle between high-speed predators and their prey, individuals need to react in the blink of an eye to avoid capture. Alarm calls that warn of danger therefore need to do so sufficiently rapidly that listeners can escape in time. Paradoxically, many species produce more elements in their alarm calls when signalling about more immediate danger, thereby increasing the reliability of transmission of critical information but taking longer to convey the urgent message. We found that New Holland honeyeaters, Phylidonyris novaehollandiae, incorporated more elements in alarm calls given to more dangerous predators, but video analysis revealed that listeners responded in 100 ms, after only the first element. Consistent with this rapid response, the acoustic structure of the first element varied according to the danger, and playbacks confirmed that birds need hear only the first element to assess risk. However, birds hid for longer and were more likely to flee, after calls with more elements. The dual mechanisms of varying both element structure and number may provide a widespread solution to signalling rapidly and reliably about immediate danger.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.2772