Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00777:body:0:p4
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00777
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 9369–12549

The Painted Honeyeater has black upperparts, white underparts, black spots on its flanks and yellow edges to the flight and tail feathers. The bill is a deep pink and the eye red. The females are smaller and browner on the back than the male, frequently with fewer streaks or spots on their breast and flanks (Higgins et al. 2001). Juveniles are even paler than the female, appearing more brown than black, with fainter yellow colouring to feathers and with a grey bill rather than the pink seen on adults (Higgins et al. 2001).

   The Painted Honeyeater is the only small to medium honeyeater with a wholly or mostly pink bill, and the only yellow-winged honeyeater with almost wholly white underparts (marked only with sparse, fine and short black streaks) (Higgins et al.2001).

    1.4     Species distribution
     The Painted Honeyeater is endemic to Australia. The species is sparsely distributed from south-eastern Australia to north-western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory (Figure 1). The greatest concentrations and almost all records of breeding come from       south of 26°S, on inland slopes of the Great Dividing Range between the Grampians,     Victoria and Roma, Queensland (Higgins et al. 2001).

     The species exhibits seasonal north-south movements governed principally                                         by the fruiting of mistletoe, with which its breeding season is closely aligned
     (Barea and Watson 2007). Many birds move after breeding to semi-arid regions                    such as north-eastern South Australia, central and western Queensland, and central Northern Territory. Considering its dispersive, nomadic habits, the species is                                considered to comprise a single population (Garnett et al. 2011).

     1.5     Population size and trends

     Estimating population size is difficult given the species' rarity in most of its range. Garnett et al. (2011) estimated the total number of individuals at <10 000, based on an extrapolation of counts undertaken in areas of New South Wales and Victoria. It is thought that the population has undergone long-term decline, likely to have been accelerated by clearance of trees for agriculture, and lack of regeneration resulting    from grazing by introduced herbivores. Much of its breeding habitat has become degraded, although it may have benefited from an increase in abundance of mistletoe
     in some degraded woodlands (Higgins et al. 2001). The species' population decline was previously suspected to be 20-29 per cent over the last three generations (17 years), based on monitoring, a reduced area of occupancy and deteriorating habitat quality (Garnett et al. 2011).

                           1.6     Biology and ecology
                  Habitat
             The Painted Honeyeater is the most specialised of Australia's honeyeaters. Its diet mainly consists of mistletoe fruits, but also includes nectar (from flowering mistletoe, eucalypts and possibly banksias) and arthropods, especially in the non-breeding season (Higgins et al. 2001; Garnett et al. 2011). Arthropods are an important part