Birda Logo
Features
Birda+
About
Species Guide
Challenges
Shop
loading...
A photo of a Yellow-faced Honeyeater (Caligavis chrysops)
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Caligavis chrysops

The Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Caligavis chrysops, is a small to medium-sized bird, a member of the Meliphagidae family. It is named for the distinctive yellow stripes adorning the sides of its head, a feature that is also the source of its scientific nomenclature.

Identification Tips

This bird is characterized by a yellow stripe that commences above the gape and broadens as it curves below the eye, culminating in a small white patch on the ear coverts. A black eye stripe is interrupted by a yellow to off-white patch behind the eye, and a second black stripe runs parallel below. The plumage is generally greyish-brown, with the upper body darker and the underparts lighter and streaked with grey. The bill is black and slightly curved downwards, and the legs and feet are grey-brown. Adults have a dusky blue iris, while juveniles display a brown one.

Habitat

The Yellow-faced Honeyeater inhabits a variety of environments, from open sclerophyll forests and coastal dunes to subalpine regions. It is also found in woodlands along creeks and rivers, often preferring areas with a light, shrubby understorey.

Distribution

This species is widespread across eastern and southeastern Australia, from Far North Queensland through to the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia.

Behaviour

The Yellow-faced Honeyeater can be observed as a solitary bird, in pairs, or small family groups, and during migration, it may travel in large flocks. It is known for its agility in flight and its adeptness at foraging among foliage and flowers for insects and nectar.

Song & Calls

Its vocalizations are varied and melodious, often heard before dawn. The song is a series of cheerful notes, and the bird is also known for its territorial and alarm calls, which are distinctive and serve as communication among individuals.

Breeding

Breeding pairs are socially monogamous and construct delicate cup-shaped nests in which they lay two or three eggs. The breeding season sees several nesting attempts due to a relatively low success rate, with challenges such as predation and environmental factors affecting the broods.

Diet and Feeding

The Yellow-faced Honeyeater has a mixed diet of insects, nectar, and pollen, with a particular adaptation for catching flies, spiders, and beetles. It also feeds on soft fruits and is known to glean insects from foliage or catch them mid-flight.

Conservation status

Despite its habitat being vulnerable to land-clearing and other anthropogenic effects, the Yellow-faced Honeyeater is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, due to its widespread distribution and stable population. However, it is considered a pest in some orchard areas.

App logo
Birda is a birdwatching app and community aimed at curious people who want to deepen their connection with nature.

Yellow-faced Honeyeaters on Birda

Photos
Sightings

More Honeyeaters

A photo of a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis)

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater

Acanthagenys rufogularis
Birda Logo

Your birdwatching journey like never before

Connect with nature in minutes
Take a walk, look out of the window and log the birds that you see. Feel good about those little connections to nature.
Discover the joy of birding
Find new birding spots, see more birds, share and celebrate with a like-minded community of nature lovers.
Play your part in saving nature
Logging your birding sightings and sessions turns into positive action for our planet. Every sighting counts.

Birda Blog

What Our Birders Say
Jane N
A great app
Enjoying it immensely and finding it useful too. Recording the different birds and counting them is showing me how the present climate is affecting them all. I've trebled the numbers by planting native hedging. A great app.
Hip An
Fantastic
Really enjoying Birda where I live i have a lot of Red kites really hard to photograph but I can video are you planning some place on the app where us Birda can post vids🦉🦅
Bryan C
Clean and easy to use
Really enjoying this app, it's clean and easy to use. I love the ease of being able to add those one-off birds without starting a whole checklist. I also like the social aspect, like the parts of my Facebook I like, without the ads and junk, just birds. Can't wait to see it become more populated.
Alice J
Awesome Birding Community
I absolutely love the community aspect of this app. The app is so user friendly and has fun interactive challenges to get you out birding. I’ve tried others but since I’ve started using Birda I’ve not gone back!
778
Great bird recording
For a while I’ve been trying to find an app to easily record bird lists and day out and struggled to find one that I like. Birda is great for this, straightforward and a great community!
Chudbond
Love Birda
I love this app. It really encourages you to log your sightings and the community is friendly and helpful.
Paul F
Very good database
Highly recommend. It great that this app shows you male Vs female variations when posting. Very good database I'm really impressed.
Talli A
My favourite app
As a young birdwatcher who was always keen to be apart of a community but never seemed to find one, my problem was solved downloading this!!! Everyone is so friendly and just as excited to see birds as me 😁
Stewart W
Fantastic to be involved
Fantastic to be involved, great for mental health and gets you responding with the Challenges that are to takd part in.
Sacha0508
Simply fantastic
I love this app, it puts so much fun into recording the birds I’ve seen and heard while I’m out and about. The interface is user-friendly and suitable for all ages. It’s great to collect badges and to review my “lists”.
As featured in
Birda Logo
AboutPressAmbassadorsAffiliatesInfluencersCareersPrivacyTerms & Conditions
An app for birdwatchers
Connect with us
Copyright © 2024 Chirp Birding. All rights reserved.