The bell miner (Manorina melanophrys), commonly known as the bellbird, is a colonial honeyeater, endemic to southeastern Australia.

The psyllids make these bell lerps from their own honeydew secretions in order to protect themselves from predators and the environment.

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.

The bell miner (Manorina melanophrys) belongs to the family of honeyeaters and Australian chats (Meliphagidae), which is part of the superfamily Meliphagoidea that also comprises the Australian warblers, scrubwrens, and thornbills (Acanthizidae); bristlebirds (Dasyornithidae); fairy-wrens (Maluridae); and pardalotes (Pardalotidae).

The closest related genus to Manorina has been genetically found to be the New Guinea and New Britain Melidectes honeyeaters.

[13] It is possible to determine the sex of the birds by analyzing wing length, tail length, and culmen depth, or by observing calls that are unique to females, but there is no easy way to reliably determine the sex in the field without careful observation of behaviour and calls.

[13] The birds are heard more than they are seen, as bell miners tend to forage high in the canopy, and their olive-green plumage blends into the surrounding leaves.

Bell miners are distributed from around Gympie in Queensland, south along the coastal plain and ranges, to Victoria, around Melbourne.

[12][18] They prefer the margins of wet or dry sclerophyll forest and thick woodlands, often with a stream or other permanent water source nearby.

[21] In an undisturbed setting, bell miners choose habitat with an understory of shrubs, ferns, sedges, and rainforest vines.

[24] They are particular about their preferred habitat and reasonably small disturbances to undergrowth, such as fire or lantana removal, can cause a colony to move to a new territory.

[19] The complex social organization of bell miners was observed as early as the 1960s[18] in New South Wales, and has been studied by several research groups in Victoria.

[26] As a colony, bell miners are aggressive and set up a permanent territory that they will defend together against all other honeyeaters and any other species, which they perceive are a threat to their preferred food source or themselves.

Coteries are groups that are interconnected and interact daily within the larger colony, due to a close genetic relationship.

[32] Bell miners forage primarily among leaves, branches, and loose bark in the canopy, generally at least 8 m in height, but they do descend to the dense understory.

[13][32] Although psyllids are the primary food source, like most honeyeaters, bell miners have also been recorded drinking nectar from eucalyptus, banksia, and mistletoe flowers, as well as eating various other insects, including spiders, beetles, weevils, moths, and wasps.

[42] In some cases where bell miners have been removed, the avian diversity has been restored and the psyllid infestation reduced to the point of trees returning to health.

[44] The nests are small, cup-shaped, and built with dry twigs, grasses, and bark woven together with spider web.

However, they did not move nests far from the original location horizontally, possibly to stay within their home foraging range, and to retain their established set of helpers.

[4] The amount of help offered by a nest helper is correlated with its genetic relationship with the nestlings it is feeding.

[52] Young bell miners leave the nest about 12 days post hatching, but continue to be fed by parents and helpers for a further 10 weeks.

[13] By the time they reach breeding age, the sex ratio is skewed with more surviving males, probably due to higher mortality of the dispersing females.