Eastern Spinebill
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The eastern spinebill (''Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris'') is a species of
honeyeater The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Gui ...
found in south-eastern Australia in forest and woodland areas, as well as gardens in urban areas of Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart. It is around 15 cm long, and has a distinctive black, white and chestnut plumage, a red eye, and a long downcurved bill.


Taxonomy

Originally described as ''
Certhia '' Certhia '' is the genus of birds containing the typical treecreepers, which makes up the family Certhiidae. The typical treecreepers occur in many wooded parts of the North Temperate Zone. They do not normally migrate other than for local m ...
tenuirostris'' by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801, it is a member of the small genus ''
Acanthorhynchus Spinebill is the name given to two members of the honeyeater family, both in the genus ''Acanthorhynchus'', which is Latin for "spine bill". They are around 15 centimetres in length, and are coloured black, white and chestnut, with a long, downc ...
'' with one other, the
western spinebill The western spinebill (''Acanthorhynchus superciliosus'') is a honeyeater found in the Heath (habitat), heath and woodland of Southwest Australia, south-western Australia. Ranging between long, it weighs around . It has a black head, gray back a ...
of
Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
. The generic name is derived from the
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
translation of spinebill, namely ''acantho-''/ακανθο- 'spine' and ''rhynchos''/ρυνχος 'bill'. Its specific epithet is from
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
''tenuis'' 'narrow' and ''rostrum'' 'bill'. Other English names include spine-billed honeyeater and awl-bird or cobbler's awl bird. The eastern spinebill is polytypic, consisting of the subspecies ''A. t. cairnsensis'', ''A. t. dubius'', ''A. t. halmaturinus'', and the
nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...
''A. t. tenuirostris''. The eastern spinebill forms a
superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...
with the closely related
western spinebill The western spinebill (''Acanthorhynchus superciliosus'') is a honeyeater found in the Heath (habitat), heath and woodland of Southwest Australia, south-western Australia. Ranging between long, it weighs around . It has a black head, gray back a ...
. Scientists believe the two
sister species In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...
are descended from a shared ancestor whose once widespread populations were separated by
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
. During a past period of
desertification Desertification is a type of gradual land degradation of Soil fertility, fertile land into arid desert due to a combination of natural processes and human activities. The immediate cause of desertification is the loss of most vegetation. This i ...
, that ancestor species retreated to refuges in the southwestern and southeastern corners of the continent, and
evolved Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
into the two present-day spinebill species. Recent
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
studies have shown that the two spinebills belong to a
clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
which is a
sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...
to all other honeyeaters.


Description

The male eastern spinebill is long, and has a long thin downcurved black bill with a black head, white throat with a chestnut patch and red iris.Morcombe, Michael (2012) ''Field Guide to Australian Birds''. Pascal Press, Glebe, NSW. Revised edition. It has a brownish-red nape, a grey-brown back and pale cinnamon underparts. The dark tail is tipped with white laterally. Females are smaller with olive-grey crown, similar in colouring to male but slightly duller; and juveniles are pale warm cinnamon below with grey to olive-brown upperparts, a brown-red eye and orange base to the bill.Slater, Peter (1974) ''A Field Guide to Australian Birds: Passerines''. Adelaide: Rigby. The call is a clear, high-pitched, staccato piping "chip-chip-chip", sometimes repeated for lengthy periods.


Distribution and habitat

Eastern spinebills are found in dry
sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or ...
forest, scrub and heathland from the
Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the '' Endeavour'', for ...
area in North Queensland south through New South Wales east of the
Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...
, through Victoria and into the
Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain ranges in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhab ...
in eastern South Australia as well as throughout
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
.Pizzey, Graham; Doyle, Roy (1980) ''A Field Guide to the Birds of Australia''. Collins Publishers, Sydney. Adaptable, they can be found in urban gardens with sufficient vegetation to act as cover and a food source.


Breeding

Breeding season is from August to January, with one or two broods raised. The nest is a deep cup-shaped structure of grass and bark strips, lined with feathers and soft plant fibres, hanging by the rim in the fork of a small bushy tree or shrub, above ground. The clutch is one to four, with two being the average, pinkish eggs with dark reddish-brown blotches and spots, in size. The female incubates the eggs for 13 to 16 days before hatching. Both parents feed the chicks and remove the
faecal sac A fecal sac (also spelled faecal sac) is a mucous membrane, generally white or clear with a dark end, that surrounds the feces of some species of nestling birds. It allows parent birds to more easily remove fecal material from the nest. The ne ...
s from the nest.


Diet

The eastern spinebill feeds on
nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...
from many plants, including the blooms of gum trees, mistletoes ''
Amyema ''Amyema'' is a genus of semi- parasitic shrubs (mistletoes) which occur in Malesia and Australia. Etymology ''Amyema'' derives from the Greek: ''a'' (negative), and ''myeo'' (I initiate), referring to the genus being previously unrecognised. D ...
'' spp., ''
Epacris longiflora ''Epacris longiflora'', commonly known as fuchsia heath or cigarette flower, is a plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an erect or spreading shrub with egg-shaped, pointed leaves and red tube-shaped flowers whi ...
'', ''
Epacris impressa ''Epacris impressa'', also known as common heath, is a species of plant in the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to south-eastern Australia (the states of Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales). French botanist Jacques Labil ...
'' (common heath), ''
Correa reflexa Correa may refer to: * Correa (surname) * ''Correa'' (insect), a genus of beetles in the family Staphylinidae * ''Correa'' (plant), a genus of Australian plants named after Portuguese botanist José Correia da Serra * Difuntos Correa, a Chilea ...
'', and various members of the
Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family (biology), family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genus, genera with about 1,660 known species. Australia and South Africa have the greatest concentr ...
such as ''
Banksia ericifolia ''Banksia ericifolia'', the heath-leaved banksia, or lantern banksia, is a species of woody shrub of the family Proteaceae native to Australia. It grows in two separate regions of Central and Northern New South Wales east of the Great Dividing ...
'', ''
Banksia integrifolia ''Banksia integrifolia'', commonly known as the coast banksia, is a species of tree that grows along the east coast of Australia. One of the most widely distributed ''Banksia'' species, it occurs between Victoria and Central Queensland in a ...
'', ''
Lambertia formosa ''Lambertia formosa'', commonly known as mountain devil, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae, Endemic (ecology), endemic to New South Wales, Australia. First species description, described in 1798 by English botanist James Edward Smith (botanist ...
'' and '' Grevillea speciosa'', as well as small insects and other invertebrates. A 1982 study in the
New England National Park The New England National Park is a protected national park located on the Northern Tablelands in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. The park was created in May 1935 and is situated approximately north of Sydney, and south ...
in north-eastern
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
found that there was a large influx of birds coinciding with the start of flowering of ''
Banksia spinulosa ''Banksia spinulosa'', the hairpin banksia, is a species of woody shrub, of the genus ''Banksia'' in the family Proteaceae, native to eastern Australia. Widely distributed, it is found as an understorey plant in open dry forest or heath (habit ...
'' there. They have been known to feed from exotic plants such as
fuchsia ''Fuchsia'' ( ) is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. Almost 110 species of ''Fuchsia'' are recognized; the vast majority are native to South America, but a few occur north through Central America to Mex ...
s. During periods of abundant flowering there may be periods of low nectar production, and it appears that the eastern spinebill responds to these periodic shortages by storing fat during periods of high nectar production, increasing the amount of time spent feeding, or dropping its day-time metabolic rate to night-time levels.


References


Citations


General and cited references

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External links


Eastern spinebill
at the Internet Bird Collection {{Taxonbar, from=Q3284298
eastern spinebill The eastern spinebill (''Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris'') is a species of honeyeater found in Southeast Australia temperate forests, south-eastern Australia in forest and woodland areas, as well as gardens in urban areas of Canberra, Sydney, Melbo ...
Birds of New South Wales Birds of Queensland Birds of South Australia Birds of Tasmania Birds of Victoria (state) Endemic birds of Australia
eastern spinebill The eastern spinebill (''Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris'') is a species of honeyeater found in Southeast Australia temperate forests, south-eastern Australia in forest and woodland areas, as well as gardens in urban areas of Canberra, Sydney, Melbo ...