Honeyeaters love the "Honeyflower"

I love the way that some birds intuitively "understand" the plants I grow.

Our Australian Honeyeaters love plants which produce nectar in long tubular flowers. These birds relate to Mexican Salvias as easily as they do to native Australian Waratahs and Grevilleas. And then there is the spectacular "Large Honeyflower" from South Africa.

I love this plant mostly for its intricately patterned leaves. I have mentioned before, that this plant reminds me of my (late) Mother and her beloved dressmaking scissors - her "Pinking Shears". The deeply incised leaves look as if cut in that zig-zag edge pattern of Pinking Shears.

But for the birds, the nectar is the important part of this plant.

This plant is called Melianthus major .
That name translates easily as Melia = Honey; Anthus = flower + major = large. Large Honeyflower. That South African plants site says: "The nectar-rich, bird pollinated flowers rise up above the leaves, drawing attention with their unusual rusty red colouring."

And that, dear reader, is a reminder of the Gondwanan link between our Australian birds and the plants of South Africa, Australia and Mexico. There is a tendency for plants from those three regions to produce long tubular flowers which have copious nectar. Our Australian bird family of Honeyeaters are specialists.

An Eastern Spinebill on an Australian Grevillea.

Here is a close-up of the head of a young Spinebill
which died of concussion when it flew into a friend's window.
Look at the long thin beak.
The scientific name is: Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris
Wikipedia says: "The generic name is derived from the Greek translation of its common name, namely acantho-/ακανθο- "spine" and rhynchos/ρυνχος "bill". Its specific name is from Latin tenuis "narrow" and rostrum billed."
Got that?
"Long thin spine beak" - perfect for getting into long curved flowers.

Here is a Brush Wattlebird feeding on the Melianthus major.
Note the yellow pollen dusted all over its forehead.

Here is the bird sizing up the best flower head to go for.

And here is the Wattlebird perched on the flower stem.
Note the similarity in posture with this image, and that of
the first picture of the Eastern Spinebill.
These Honeyeaters are great acrobats.
This posture, poised underneath a flower stem,
reaching up into a protruding curved flower is a classic pose.
They are even able to feed upside down.
They do that, if necessary,
to get their long tongues inside the flower.

*****

These birds do not care where the flower originated.
They know it carries nectar,
and they are perfectly adapted to harvest it.

Party Time!