Meliphagidae
Eastern Spinebill
Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris
The Needle at the Correa
- Length
- 16 cm
- Wingspan
- 20 cm
- Family
- Meliphagidae
Identification
A tiny, exquisite honeyeater with a long, decurved black bill, a black cap, a chestnut nape, a white throat cut by a dark crescent, and cinnamon underparts. In a garden of correa or fuchsia they hover like a thought that has not yet landed. Once seen, they are unmistakeable; until then they are a flash and a thin call.
Distinctive marks
- Long curved needle bill
- Black cap, chestnut nape
- White throat with a dark crescent
- Cinnamon underparts
- Hovers at tubular flowers
Behaviour & ecology
They work a circuit of tubular flowers — correa, fuchsia, epacris — and will return to the same bush on a timetable. Shyer than miners and wattlebirds; a closed understorey and a cat-free hour are what keep them. They hover more than any other Peninsula honeyeater.
Voice
A high, rapid 'quick-quick-quick' and a thin, descending whistle. Easy to miss until the ear is trained.
On the Peninsula
Gardens and bush with a flowering understorey, from the Peninsula's tea-tree to a suburban correa hedge. They vanish from streets that have been tidied of thicket.
Season
Year-round. Winter correa flowering brings them closest to the window.
Diet
Nectar from tubular flowers, and small insects taken at the bloom.
Conservation
Secure where cover remains; locally sensitive to cats and the loss of understorey.
Lore & resonance
The bill is a key cut for a single kind of lock. When a spinebill hovers at a correa, the garden briefly admits it was planted for this, whether you knew or not.
If you would attract them
Plant correa, fuchsia, and local heath. Keep a thicket. Ban the cat at dawn. They will not come to a tray; they come to a flower that fits.
