Yellow-throated Miner - Ecology and Behaviour

Ecology and Behaviour

The Yellow-throated Miner inhabits dry forests, but can inhabit parks and backyards of disturbed habitat. It is a loud, and conspicuous bird, congregating in large flocks outside of the breeding season. Unlike most honeyeaters, its diet consists mostly of insects, but does include some nectar. They are aggressive towards other birds, especially during the breeding season.

The distribution of the Yellow-throated Miner is wide across Australia. It is found west of the Great Dividing Range, but not in the Cape York Peninsula, north-eastern Northern Territory and small sections in central Australia. There are four subspecies of the Yellow-throated Miner. These are Manorina flavigula flavigula, Manorina flavigula lutea, Manorina flavigula obscura and Manorina flavigula wayensis. M. f. flavigula is the most eastern species, found in Queensland, New South Wales, north western Victoria and the eastern half of South Australia. M. f. lutea is native to the Northern Territory, the western half of South Australia, and eastern Western Australia. M. f. obscura is native to south-western Western Australia, and M. f. wayensis is native to the rest of Western Australia.