Blue faced Honeyeaters

 

BLUEFACED HONEYEATERS

The Blue faced Honeyeaters are prevalent around Kilmore at the moment.







I assume they remain in the locality all year around, but are much more obvious, when many of the eucalyptus trees are heavily in blossom.

 I have been sitting under a large manna gum tree in the Kilmore golf course, which is covered in flower.

I watched  that one tree for just a short while and saw the following. Wattlebirds, Bluefaced Honeyeaters, Rainbow Lorikeets, Corellas, Musk Lorikeets, Magpies, Striated Thornbills, Rosellas, and King Parrots. In a neighbouring tree, there was a Southern Boobook Owl with its head tucked under its wing.



  






With the honeyeaters wre several young birds, these do not have the blue face of the adults but a continuation of the beautiful olive yellow colour of their backs. 


Some of the honeyeaters were pulling at loose bark on the tree trunks, using their beaks to pull of chunks. I assume they were eating the grubs and insects  found underneath. Whilst called honeyeaters, they are in fact omnivorous, aggressively feeding on everything from the eggs and young of other birds, insects small reptiles and nectar.