Identification: The male scarlet honey eater has a bright scarlet head, throat and breast with irregular white speckles. The remaining upper parts are black whereas the underparts are a dull grey-brown.
Females have brownish upper parts, buff underparts with a pink wash under the chin and throat.
 

Call/Song:  Male scarlet honeyeaters produce a variety of sweet, clear notes and also a bell-like twinkling. The female's call is different and not as prolonged. sound: Dave Stewart -used with permission

Distributed throughout eastern Australia.

Habitat:Found in coastal and range forests and woodlands, usually where flowering trees are present.

Feeding: Probes at flowers for nectars with its long, slender beak whilst mid-flight. Also eats insects and some fruit.

Breeding/Nesting: Breeds July through January. Its nest consists of a cup of fine bark strips and spiderwebs attached in a thin rim of a fork in a tree.

Movement: Seen alone or in flocks, this bird is usually seen hovering around flowering plants with its fast beating wings.

Other Common Names: Bloodbird, crimson honeyeater, hummingbird, sanguineous honeyeater.

Status:

Distribution: 

Abundance:

Queensland Museum (1995) Wildlife of Greater Brisbane, Queensland Museum, Brisbane.

Reader's Digest Services (1979) Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds, Surry Hills, NSW.