Scientific Name: Anthochaera carunculata

With its striated colouration of dark brown, white and grey, the red wattlebird is so named because of the flap of bright red skin on each side of the neck beneath a bare grey area. The belly is often tinged with yellow, while the legs and feet are pale pink. Relatively large compared to other members of the honeyeater family, adult wattlebirds may attain a length of 35cm.

Did You Know? Although the adults feed mostly on nectar and pollen, the young are raised almost solely on a diet of insects.

Habitat: Noisy and aggressive inhabitants of the forests, heathlands and gardens of southern Australia, they will chase any other wattlebird or other honeyeaters from their territory with rapid and agile fight. Their harsh, raucous call is a common sound in many suburban gardens over their range, especially those containing favoured food plants such as Grevillea and Banksia.

Diet: The tongue is designed as a brush and is rapidly flicked into the throat of blossoms to collect the energy-rich nectar, while pollen provides an excellent source of protein. The diet is further supplemented with insects and spiders caught whilst foraging amongst the foliage.

Reproduction: A cup-shaped nest of woven grass, bark, hair and fine twigs is constructed in a bush or shrub. The spotted eggs are incubated for a little over two weeks and the chicks take a further two and a half weeks before they leave the nest