103 AUSTRALIAN Field Ornithology 2009, 26, 103–104

A White-throated feeding upon the nectar of Umbrella Tree flowers by tongue lapping, near Malanda, north Qld Plate 17 Photo: Clifford B. Frith

Photographic Evidence of Nectar-feeding by the White-throated Treecreeper leucophaea

CLIFFORD B. FRITH P.O. Box 581, Malanda, Queensland 4885 (Email: [email protected])

Summary. An individual of the north-eastern Australian subspecies of the White-throated Treecreeper Cormobates leucophaea minor was closely observed and photographed while clearly feeding upon nectar from the flowers of an Umbrella Tree Schefflera actinophylla. Although the few other records of nectar-feeding by (Family Climacteridae) are reviewed, this note presents the first substantiated evidence of nectar-feeding by Australasian treecreepers.

The most recent review of the biology of the Family Climacteridae as a whole described treecreepers as taking nectar from flowers at times (Noske 2007). However, few published records of nectar-feeding by any of the six Australian treecreeper species exist. Of the five species of the genus , only one (the C. picumnus) is known to occasionally drink nectar from ironbarks such as Mugga Eucalyptus sideroxylon (V. & E. Doerr, cited in Higgins et al. 2001) and from paperbarks (Orenstein 1977). The Black-tailed Treecreeper C. melanura has been observed feeding on the Banksia-like inflorescences of the FRITH: AUSTRALIAN 104 White-throated Treecreeper Eating Nectar Field Ornithology

Bridal Tree Xanthostemon paradoxus, another myrtaceous species (R. Noske pers. comm.). The White-throated Treecreeper Cormobates leucophaea was recently described as ‘Almost wholly insectivorous, mainly bark-dwelling ants; occasionally take some plant material’ (Higgins et al. 2001: p. 199). The details of the few previous records of feeding upon nectar by this treecreeper are unpublished. Orenstein (1977) recorded the White-throated Treecreeper eating Banksia nectar. In addition, V. & E. Doerr (cited in Higgins et al. 2001) observed the species probing flowers of Mugga, apparently for nectar. There appears to be no other record of nectar- feeding by this species, or by any Australasian treecreeper in rainforest. On 27 December 2007 I was in a photographic blind atop a 4-m-tall tower, photographing various honeyeaters (Family Meliphagidae) near Malanda, southern Atherton Tablelands, northern Queensland. These were visiting an Umbrella Tree Schefflera actinophylla, projecting from the rainforest edge with its crown 4 m from the forest and above my garden lawn, to take nectar from its flowers. At 1425 h I was surprised to see a White-throated Treecreeper of the north-eastern Australian subspecies C.l. minor fly directly from the forest-edge foliage into the crown of the Umbrella Tree. There the treecreeper worked its way along the entire length of several flowering stems of the plant’s crown to direct its bill-tip into the centre of many flowers (Plate 12, front cover). Through my close-focussing, high- quality 10 × 32 binoculars and 500-mm camera lens I could see no insects on the flowers utilised by the . Watching it through my camera lens, I could clearly see the bird extending its tongue-tip into nectar to lap it up. The accompanying digital photograph (Plate 17) clearly documents this nectar-feeding. The tongue-tip of Australasian treecreepers has often been described as ‘brush-tipped’ and bifid (or forked), but it is in fact fimbricated (or fringed) and quadrifid (four-forked), albeit with poorly defined lateral notches (Noske 2007). Although this feature might be interpreted as a pre-adaptation (or phylogenetic previous adaptation) for nectar-feeding, many oscine species that also have such tongue-tips rarely or never eat nectar (Noske 2007).

I am most grateful to Dr Richard Noske for kindly reading a draft of this note and providing constructive criticisms and suggestions.

References Higgins, P.J., Peter, J.M. & Steele,W.K. (Eds) (2001), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, vol. 5, Oxford University Press, Melbourne. Noske, R.A. (2007), ‘Family Climacteridae (Australasian Treecreepers)’, pp. 642–660 in del Hoyo, J., Elliot, A. & Christie, D.A. (Eds), Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 12, Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Orenstein, R.I. (1977), Morphological Adaptation for Bark Foraging in Australian Treecreepers (Aves: Climacteridae), PhD thesis, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

Received 5 May 2009 