Bell Miner

About the Bell Miner

The bell miner or bellbird (Manorina melanophrys) is a colonial honeyeater, endemic to southeastern Australia. The common name refers to their bell-like call. "Miner" is an old alternative spelling of "myna", and is shared with other members of the genus Manorina. The birds feed almost exclusively on the dome-like coverings, referred to as lerps, of certain psyllid bugs.

Bell miners live in large, complex, social groups. Within each group, there are subgroups consisting of several breeding pairs, but also including a number of birds that are not currently breeding. The nonbreeders help in providing food for the young in all the nests within the subgroup, even though they are not necessarily closely related to them. The birds defend their colony area communally and aggressively, excluding most other passerine species. They do this in order to protect their territory from other insect-eating birds that would eat the bell lerps on which they feed. Whenever the local forests die back, due to increased lerp psyllid infestations, bell miners undergo a population boom.

The heritage listed mountain village of Bellbrook was named after the distinctive sound of local bellbirds in 1882. ��2�... Wikipedia →