Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various birds of the family Meliphagidae of Australia and adjacent regions, having an extensible brushlike tongue used for sucking nectar from flowers.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun zoology Any of various Australasian birds of the family Meliphagidae, with a tongue adapted for obtaining nectar from flowers.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From honey + eater.

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Examples

  • One team discovered a new bird, the wattled smoky honeyeater, within seconds of leaving their expedition helicopter.

    Conservationists discover more than 1,000 species in New Guinea 2011

  • One team discovered a new bird, the wattled smoky honeyeater, within seconds of leaving their expedition helicopter.

    Conservationists discover more than 1,000 species in New Guinea 2011

  • A team of scientists has discovered a lost world of rare plants, giant flowers and bizarre animals -- including a new species of honeyeater bird, a tree kangaroo and an egg-laying mammal -- on a mist-shrouded mountaintop in a remote province of Indonesia on New Guinea island.

    Science Project 2010

  • A honeyeater flies in through a window at the same moment we enter the door.

    Birdology Sy Montgomery 2010

  • The white-eared honeyeater Lichenstomus leucotis and New Holland honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae are found in the drier forests, the Lewin honeyeater Meliphaga lewinii frequents the rainforests and wet sclerophyll forest.

    Greater Blue Mountains Area, Australia 2009

  • Asuncion is home to approximately 400 endemic Mariana flying fox (Pteropus mariannus), and 25 bird species, including the Micronesian starling (Aplonis opaca) and the Micronesian honeyeater (Myzomela rubrata).

    Marianas tropical dry forests 2008

  • Several other species restricted to Tasmania and Bass Strait Islands also occur here, including the green rosella (Platycercus caledonicus), brown scrubwren (Sericornis humilis), and yellow-throated honeyeater (Lichenostomus flavicollis).

    Tasmanian temperate forests 2008

  • The Tasmanian native hen (Gallinula mortierii), black-headed honeyeater (Melithreptus affinis), and yellow wattlebird (Anthochaera paradoxa) are near-endemic to this ecoregion.

    Tasmanian temperate forests 2008

  • Thinking honeyeater: nectar maps for the Northern Territory, Australia, showing spatial and temporal variation in nectar availability.

    Arnhem Land tropical savanna 2008

  • Two other endangered birds, the swift parrot (Lathamus discolor) and the regent honeyeater (Xanthomyza phyrigia), were regularly seen in the region 20 to 30 years ago but are now rarely if ever encountered.

    Naracoorte woodlands 2008

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