Subscribe to our newsletter. These beautiful little birds get their name from the fact that they eat the fruit and feed from the flowers of the Australian mistletoe plant. Sometimes they are called Australian Flower Swallows.
Males have a distinctive scarlet chin and throat as well as under their tail.
Their throat area is white and black while they are bluish black on the rest. Females are creamy white underneath, brown above and pale red under their tails. Wherever mistletoe is present on the mainland of Australia, listen for the Mistletoe Birds' warbling songs although they are good mimics also, singing the songs of other birds. They are nomadic, traveling from area to area in search of food. Mistletoe berries can cause severe stomach upset in people that can lead to dehydration, which could lead to death in a worst case scenario.