Silvereye

The Silvereye is a small bird with a conspicuous ring of white feathers around the eye, and belongs to a group of birds known as white-eyes. The Silvereye shows interesting plumage variations across its range. The gray back and olive-green head and wings are found in birds trough the east, while western birds have a uniformly olive-green back. Breeding birds of the east coast have yellow throats, pale buff flanks (side of the belly) and white on the under tail. To complicate this, the birds in the east have regular migrations within Australia and may replace each other in their different areas for parts of the year. Birds in Western Australia have yellowish olive, rather than gray backs.

There is only one similar species found in Australia. The Yellow White-eye, lives on north and north-west. It is more brightly coloured above, is lemon yellow below and has a smaller white eye-ring. The ranges of the two species do overlap slightly.

Silvereyes feed on insects prey and large amounts of fruit and nectar, making them occasional pests of commercial orchards. Birds are seen alone, in pairs or small flocks during the breeding season, but form large flocks in the winter months.

Silvereye pairs actively defend a small territory. The nest is a small, neatly woven cup of grasses, hair, and other fine vegetation, bound with spider web. It is placed in horizontal tree fork up to five meters above the ground. The nest is constructed by both sexes, who both also incubate the bluish-green eggs. If conditions are suitable two to three clutches will be raised in a season.

Photos

Jozef Skubin 1,2,3,4,5,6, Canning river, Cannington W.A. 10.06.2014

Text references

Field Guide to the Birds of Australia.

Reader s Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds

The Honeyeaters and their Allies of Australia