Striped Honeyeater

The striped honeyeater has most often been observed singly or in twos, and occasionally in small flocks. When not breeding it has been recorded feeding in loose mobile groups, drinking in mixed groups with miners, and travelling in small groups. It engages in a high level of social activity, including perching closely and allopreening, and when feeding in groups chasing, calling and scolding. The non-breeding striped honeyeater is vocal, calling while feeding and perching, though only occasionally calling in flight. It has been recorded engaged in a display of wing-raising and calling, and performing duets or call-and-response song. While the striped honeyeater aggressively defends its nest by dive-bombing people and animals who come too close, and has been observed singing from display perches, it is not known to be territorial. It often feeds near other species of honeyeater and no inter-species aggression has been noted.

This species is found mainly in eastern Australia, predominantly inland. It inhabits the drier open forests, such as mallee and mulga, but also heathland and mangroves on the coast. An observer in 1923 was surprised to find a small number of striped honeyeaters nesting at Forster on the New South Wales mid-north coast, saying "it is a remarkable fact for this bird to leave its proper habitat so far inland, to come to the coast". However, the range has expanded, and contemporary accounts give its distribution as eastern Australia from central and southeast Queensland extending inland to southeast South Australia, and along the coast south to the Tuggerah Lakes, New South Wales. Small irruptions associated with weather patterns and habitat changes have been recorded in areas outside its usual range, including the Grampians and the Adelaide Plains. It occurs in a wide variety of habitats, including riparian woodlands such as river red gum, bimble box and black box with an understory of lignum or saltbush; mallee woodland, especially where mixed with thickets of broombush or emu bush; woodlands of native pine growing on sand ridges; and semi-arid scrubland dominated by Acacia including lancewood. On the coast, the striped honeyeater is found in swamp forests of paperbark and Casuarina, and in developed areas containing native and exotic trees and shrubs such as caravan parks, reserves, gardens, and farms and orchards.

Because of its wide distribution and stable population, the conservation status of the striped honeyeater has been evaluated by the IUCN as being of least concern.