Mistletoe Bird (Male)

Description:

Adult birds are barely 10cm long, males are black (wings, back, tail, head) with white belly, bright red throat & chest & undertail, black stripe in centre of chest; females are duller with slight crimson chest barely visible. Call is incredibly loud for such a small bird (they would put much larger birds to shame!). They are found wherever mistletoe plants grow and there are many varieties of mistletoe. It ingests large amounts of the berries which seem impossible for this tiny bird to swallow, it deposits the remains passed through its body onto tree branches which allows the mistletoe to spread. They also eat insects & other fruit. They have also been known to mimic other birds.

Habitat:

Found throughout Australia, this one in dry woodland bordering semi-rainforest not far from major river system. It is searching through a mistletoe plant growing on a Swamp Mahogany tree.