Black Honeyeater

The black honeyeater (Sugomel nigrum) is a species of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. The black honeyeater exhibits sexual dimorphism, with the male being black and white while the female is a speckled grey-brown; immature birds look like the female. The species is endemic to Australia, and ranges widely across the arid areas of the continent, through open woodland and shrubland, particularly in areas where the emu bush and related species occur. The black honeyeater has a long, slender, down-curved bill, a small rounded head and slender neck set on a plump body, and a short, slightly cleft tail. It is between 10 and 13 cm long, with an average wingspan of around 19 cm and a weight of 9.5 g. It has relatively long, pointed wings for a honeyeater, and very long wings for such a small bird, the development of which has been attributed to its feeding behaviour of flying between shrubs and hovering over flowers. The species is strongly sexually dimorphic. Adult males are black and white, with a black head, neck, wings and upperparts, and a black stripe running down from the centre of the chest to the abdomen, and with a white belly, flanks and under-tail coverts. The female's crown, ear coverts and upper parts are buff brown, scalloped paler, with a pale eyebrow, and the chest is speckled grey-brown grading into a dull white belly. In both male and female the iris is dark brown and the bill and legs blackish brown. Immature birds are similar to the adult female; however, the upper breast and throat tend to be more uniform grey-brown and the base of the bill is paler; they are not distinguishable from adult females at a distance.