Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris

Size: Birds Size: 13-16 cm

Family: Meliphagidae (Honeyeaters, 74 species in Australia).

Distribution: Within about 300 km of the coasts of NSW, VIC, Southern QLD and a tiny part of Southeast SA, all of TAS.

Status: Common

Habitat: Heaths, forests with heaths; shrubby gardens.

References: Simpson and Day, Reader's Digest

About the Eastern Spinebill

The Eastern Spinebill is an extremely common bird in gardens in the Blue Mountains. It has a distinctive call which sounds a bit like "sawing" (it makes sense when you hear it), and a more common call which is a series of "bip bip bip bip bip bip bip bip bip" notes, very fast and all the same.

The Eastern Spinebill never stays in the one place very long, and it buries itself inside the flowery bushes that it eats from so it is harder to get a good photo than it should be for such a common bird.

Photo: Eastern spinebill perched in the forest, NSW. By Alex Cooper Photography at Shutterstock. Higher Resolution 3151 x 2101.

Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW.

Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW.

Photo: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW.

Artwork: John Gould, 'The Birds of Australia', 1848. Higher Resolution 700 x 1000.

See Also

Australian Mammals
Australian Reptiles
Australian Frogs
Australian Fish
Australian Spiders and Their Faces
Australian Wild Plant Foods

Return to Australian Birds