Tuesday 24 November 2015

Birding in Australia: White-fronted Chat

A beautiful bird of honeyeater family found in the Southern Australia and Tasmania. The male has a white face surrounded by a white band on the breast and head. There are no subspecies recognised in this family.  They are 11-13 cm and weigh around 13 gm. 

Male White-fronted Chat
This is an endemic species of Australia and though it is Least Concern as far as the species is concerned - it is listed as vulnerable in New South Wales and Threatened in Adelaide-Mount Lofty region where it is much rarer.

The fun fact about this species is that though they are Honeyeaters, the White-fronted chats do not feed on nectar. Instead they run along the ground feeding on insects. They however have the same brush-tipped tongues as the other honey-eating members as honeyeaters.

2 comments:

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Great little bird and great shot. I saw this bird on my next to last day in Australia at the Queanbean reservoir.

S S Cheema said...

Thank you David