Observations at Nests of the Painted Honeyeater Grantiella picta

Abstract

Some aspects of the breeding biology of a pair of Painted Honeyeaters Grantiella picta were observed during spring and early summer of 1992-1993 near Armidale, New South Wales. After an unsuccessful nesting attempt, which failed during brooding, the (same?) pair fledged one offspring from a subsequent nesting attempt. The incubation period lasted at least 13 days, and the nestling period 20 days. Both sexes incubated and brooded. Sexual dimorphism was slight, with the main gender difference (ventral streaking) being the reverse of that usually considered definitive for males and females. The putative female contributed 33-50% of observed incubation effort (over the two nesting attempts), 76% of observed brooding time and 65% of food items taken to the nest. The nestling diet was 64% mistletoe seeds, with the remainder largely unidentified but including some arthropods. The parental feeding rate was 8.1 feeding visits to the nestling per hour (2.8 per hour by the male, 5.3 by the female). Parental behaviour and vocalisations are described.