New Holland Honeyeater

Description:

Smallish bird (4-6") with mottled black and white body, black head with two white stripes above the eyes. It has a bright yellow flash on the wings and tinges of yellow on the tail. It has a white ring around its eye, and the bill is long and slightly curved down. However, the bill is quite 'stout' rather than long and slender.

Habitat:

This was one of a pair (M/F?) seen flitting between Bottlebrush trees in rough scrubby borders around a derelict factory right on the coast here in Port Kembla (an hour south of Sydney)

Notes:

The birds seemed quite keen to stay hidden from me, and flew off to other trees many times as I quietly approached where they were feeding on the Bottlebrush flowers. They were quite difficult to get a clear photo of, so sorry for the poor quality of these shots. Had a bit of a browse on google images, and initially identified it as a White-cheeked Honeyeater, before realising that one does not have the white eye, and the one I saw did not have such distinct white cheeks. So I now suspect it is a New Holland Honeyeater instead.