 The noisy miner primarily eats nectar , fruit and insects , and occasionally it feeds on small reptiles or amphibians . It is both <unk> and terrestrial , feeding in the canopy of trees and on trunks and branches and on the ground . It <unk> within the colony 's territory throughout the year , usually in groups of five to eight birds although hundreds may gather at a stand of flowering trees such as banksia . The noisy miner collects nectar directly from flowers , hanging upside down or <unk> thin branches <unk> to access the nectar ; it takes fruit from trees or fallen on the ground ; <unk> or hawks for invertebrates ; and picks through leaf litter for insects . It has been recorded turning over the dried droppings of <unk> ( <unk> <unk> ) and eastern grey <unk> ( <unk> <unk> ) searching for insects . 
