This small honeyeater occurs in eastern Australia. Males are red and black, while females and immature birds are mainly brown. It often visits flowers for nectar.
The adult male is vivid scarlet and black with whitish underparts. Females and immature birds are dull brown, with dull white underparts and a reddish wash on the chin. Both sexes have a relatively short tail and strongly curved bill.
It feeds mainly on nectar and sometimes on fruit and insects, foraging among flowers and foliage high in the canopy, alone, in pairs, or in small flocks. It is most common in open eucalypt forest and woodland near wetlands, and also visits flowering shrubs and planted nectar sources.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.