Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater

The spiny-cheeked honeyeater, Acanthagenys rufogularis, is a medium-sized bird ranging from 22 to 27 cm in length. Its crown is speckled, dark grey on brown plumage. The juvenile bird has a characteristic yellow cheek sash, although this is less pronounced in the adult bird, where predominantly the cheek is white with a grey and/or brown streak under the cheek. Its beak is long and straight with a black tip and a fleshy red or pink colour towards the chin and up to the gape. The characteristic face pattern includes a long, dark stripe through the eyes to the ear coverts. The breast is creamy-white with short, browny streaks. The throat is often a light brown or cinnamon, sometimes extending from the beak to the upper breast. The wing feathers are a mottled, dark olive-brown to grey with white edges. The tail has similar colouring, but the tips of the tail-feathers are white. The under-tail coverts are white or, on some birds, light grey, and often streaked. There seems to be an amount of variability in the appearance of many birds in this species. One example is on the Mornington Peninsula, located on the eastern coast of Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, where the spiny-cheeked honeyeaters have darker bellies. The juvenile birds of the species have a brown iris, and the facial skin is paler on the beak.