honeyeater

honeyeater
honeyeater [hun′ē ēt΄ər]
n.
any of a large family (Meliphagidae) of Australasian passerine birds with a long, brushlike tongue that can be protruded to catch insects or draw nectar from flowers

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hon·ey·eat·er (hŭnʹē-ē'tər) n.
Any of various birds of the family Meliphagidae of Australia and adjacent regions, having a long extensible tongue adapted for sucking nectar from flowers.

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bird
      any of the 170 species of the songbird family Meliphagidae (order Passeriformes), including some of the commonest birds of Australia, New Guinea, and the western Pacific islands.

      The birds range in size from 10 to 35 centimetres (4 to 14 inches) and are drab, with subtly distinctive head markings. The bill is slender and somewhat downcurved, the tongue tubular and brush-tipped. Honeyeaters go about in pairs or in small flocks, feeding on nectar, insects, and fruit. Representative of the 40 species of the genus Meliphaga, most of which have ear tufts, is the 18-cm (7-in.) white-eared honeyeater (M. leucotis), of southern Australia. A colourful genus is Myzomela, with 25 species, found chiefly on islands of Oceania; males typically are red and black. The 11.5-cm (4.5-in.) scarlet honeyeater, or bloodbird (M. sanguinolenta), of eastern Australia sings a tinkling song in the midday heat.

      Other members of the honeyeater family are called bellbirds, friarbirds, miners, and wattlebirds (wattlebird). The three wattlebirds (Anthochaera) are large for honeyeaters, about 35 cm (14 in.) long, and are found in forests of eastern and southern Australia.

      The Cape sugarbird (Promerops cafer) of southern Africa is often considered a member of this family.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • honeyeater — [hun′ē ēt΄ər] n. any of a large family (Meliphagidae) of Australasian passerine birds with a long, brushlike tongue that can be protruded to catch insects or draw nectar from flowers …   English World dictionary

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  • honeyeater — noun Date: 1822 any of a family (Meliphagidae) of oscine birds chiefly of the South Pacific that have a long extensible tongue adapted for extracting nectar and small insects from flowers …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • honeyeater — noun Any of various Australasian birds, of the family Meliphagidae, that have a tongue adapted for obtaining nectar from flowers …   Wiktionary

  • honeyeater — noun an Australasian songbird with a long brush like tongue for feeding on nectar. [Family Meliphagidae: numerous species.] …   English new terms dictionary

  • honeyeater — /ˈhʌniˌitə / (say hunee.eetuh) noun any of numerous birds constituting the family Meliphagidae, chiefly of Australasia, with a bill and tongue adapted for extracting the nectar from flowers …  

  • honeyeater — honˈeyeater noun Any bird of a large Australian family, the Meliphagidae, which feeds on nectar • • • Main Entry: ↑honey …   Useful english dictionary

  • Crescent Honeyeater — Male (above) and female (below) …   Wikipedia

  • Black Honeyeater — A male on a Jacaranda …   Wikipedia

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