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Honey Eaters all have a long protrusible tongue with a brush-like tip which they use to extract nectar from flowers. They are important pollinators of Australian flowers and many have co-evolved with certain species of plants. Otherwise they are extremely variable in size and habits. They are one of the dominant passerine families in Australasia and represent a very successful adaptation to a wide variety of food-types. Almost all feed on nectar and many on insects and fruit, some predominantly so. Honeyeaters are often the most numerous species present in an area and there may bemire than 1.0 different honeyeater species in ilea (2.5 acres).

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White Eyes  are small greenish birds with white eye-rings—forage in gardens and forest edges, and flock around bird tables in parts of Africa, Asia, New Guinea, Australia and South Pacific islands. They have short, pointed bills and brush-tipped tongues, with which to collect nectar. They also hunt insects and spiders by gleaning foliage, probing into small crevices and hawking. They appear in orchards and eat fruits as well as aphids. With versatile feed-in habits they exploit a variety of resources to survive, and breed even on small wooded islands where most other passerines fail to establish themselves. Some white-eyes on continents migrate regularly in winter to lower latitudes, though part of the population remains resident in the cold region. They also disperse in flocks to remote islands. In thei8 50s white-eyes from Tasmania colonized New Zealand across 2,000km of sea. Successive generations on oceanic islands and isolated mountains differentiated into new forms by becoming large (ether Black-capped superiors) and/or losing certain pigments from plumage (egg the Cinnamon white-eye) or even the white eye-ring (egg Olive black-eye). As such differentiations take place in a relatively short geological time; successive invasions of original stock have led to the present coexistence of two or three species on some islands. Yet the similarities between some distant species, resulting from convergence, are so remark-able that it is often difficult to establish true affinities among them.

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Tree Creepers are small, mostly brown birds which are usually seen climbing steadily up the trunk of a tree and along its branches, and then planning down to the base of another tree to repeat the process. They have long toes with deeply curved claws for climbing, and a slightly down curved bill for probing into crevices and under flakes of bark in search of insects. Apart from these adaptations to their niche, however, the members of the three families of treecreepershave little in common. Even their climbing techniques differ. In the Holarctictreecreepers the feet are held parallel and are moved simultaneously, whereas in the Australasian tree creepers one foot is always held in front of the other and the lower foots brought up to the level of the upper before the latter is moved higher. Moreover most species of Australasian tree creepers spend much time on the ground.

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Nuthaches are the only bird’s able to climb not only up trees but also down them, headfirst. No other bird can move entrees with such versatility. The method employed differs from that of woodpeckers and tree creepers in that the tail is not used for support. When climbing the nuthatch’s feet are not parallel but one is placed high, from which to hang, and the other low, for support. The word “nuthatch” is derived from the fondness of the Eurasian species for hazel nuts.

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Some of the bird belong to the New World species of true tisane well known to the casual birdwatcher. The Black-capped chickadee and the Tufted titmouse are a common sight at bird feeders, and the latter is particularly familiar since, unlike the chickadee, it will readily use a nesting box.

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Tits are small. Active woodland and scrub1 dwellers: many are well-known visitors to bird feeders in gardens. Most are gregarious and vocal. The word “tits” derives from “titmice”, the name for “true” tits (family Parade) or, in North America, one group of Pares species (another group is called the chickadees). Other, unrelated, bird species are called tits, but here we include only members of three families currently thought to be closely related; they form a group probably closely allied to the nuthatches and creepers.
The true tits are by far the largest and most widespread of the three families, occurring from sea level to high mountains wherever there are trees: apart from treeless areas and offshore islands, only South America, Madagascar, Australia and the Antarctic are without true tits. Ten species are confined to North America, 10 to Africa south of the Sahara and the remainder are primarily Eurasian, though some of these spread into North Africa and one into Alaska. The North American and European species include some of the most “popular “of all birds, nesting in boxes in summer and common at bird-feeders in winter. They rarely cause any damage but provide hours of interest and enjoyment to home-bound observers.

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Fantails frequently fly straight at human observers and hover a meter or two from them. Consequently they are regarded with great affection; to the extent that one species is called the Friendly fantail. In truth they are probably more interested in our flies than in us.

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For many people the word “warbler” suggests a dull brownish bird singing a gentle. Trilling song (i.e. warbling) from a concealed perch in dense vegetation. Such unobtrusiveness and drabness of plumage are indeed characteristics of many Old World warblers, but: in fact this large subfamily contains numerous distinctive species. No fewer than 25 of the 56 genera contain only one species, although clearly many of these and other members of the subfamily are of doubtful affinity and some may note true warblers at all. The taxonomic confusion surrounding warblers are highlighted by some of the vernacular names; the Oriole babbler, tit-flycatchers and tit-weavers areal currently regarded as warblers.

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The thrushes are a large and widespread group of birds with few characters that clearly distinguish them from related groups such as the babblers, flycatchers and warblers. There is thus no easy definition of thrush, but most of them show the follow-in features: they have I o primary feathers, of which the outer one is much reduced in length; the tarsus (shank) is “booted” (not divided into separate scales on the leading edge); the juvenile plumage is spotted; they build cup-shaped nests; and they typically forage on the ground for animal food, sup-lamented with fruits taken from trees and shrubs.

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Accentors are small plainly colored birds, usually confined to mountainous regions. They are sparrow-like in appearance but with a more slender and pointed bill. The sexes are similar in plumage but males are larger (with longer wings and heavier) and a little brighter. Until recently they were thought to be most closely related to the thrushes. However, recent biological studies suggest that their nearest relatives are wagtails, pipits, sunbirds, sparrows (Pas-ser species) and the cardueline and fringe-line finches.

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