Honeyeaters

The honeyeaters, belonging to the family Meliphagidae, are a varied group of small to medium-sized birds that include the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners, and melidectes. With 186 species spread across 55 genera, they are typically found in Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, the Pacific islands up to Samoa and Tonga, and Wallacea to the northwest of New Guinea. They form the superfamily Meliphagoidea with their closest relatives and are essential for the pollination of various Australasian plants. Honeyeaters have diverse diets ranging from nectar, insects, and fruit and are known for their unique, brush-tipped tongues for feeding. Although many are not well understood in terms of movement, they tend to travel in response to food plant flowering, especially in arid zones. Recent taxonomy adjustments have seen some species like the golden and Bonin honeyeaters reclassified to Zosteropidae, while the New Zealand stitchbird moved to its own family, Notiomystidae. The "MacGregor's bird-of-paradise" has been reidentified as "MacGregor's honeyeater" within this family. The newly discovered wattled smoky honeyeater and the extinct Moho and Chaetoptila genera, endemic to Hawaii, have stirred up discussions about family classifications, with the latter proposed to belong to a separate family, the Mohoidae.