Nestling Food and Feeding Frequencies of the Brown-backed Honeyeater Ramsayornis modestus and the Yellow-bellied Sunbird Nectarinia jugularis in Northern Queensland

Abstract

Nestling food, feeding frequency and brooding behaviour of the Brown-backed Honeyeater Ramsayornis modestus and Yellow-bellied Sunbird Nectarina jugularis were studied in northern Queensland from August to November 1984. Male and female honeyeaters made equal numbers of frequent brief feeding visits with food items in the bill; most of which were too small to be identified. Larger items and nestling faecal remains revealed a wide variety of arthropods from six insect orders and spiders. Spiders and mantids comprised 60% of their food. The feeding frequency by both adults averaged 20.3 per h. This rate did not change through the day, with the one or two nestlings, or with nestling age. The female sunbird did almost all the feeding. She made comparatively long visits to the nest and fed nestlings more than once with pumping motions of the head. Food was entirely spiders (60%) and termites (40%) and possibly nectar. The average feeding rate was 4.2 per h and did not vary with the number of nestlings. Neither species brooded in the daytime. The number of faecal sacs removed was comparable to the number reported for temperate zone passerines.