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Regent Honeyeater Version Has Been Prepared for Web Publication #41 This Action Statement was first published in 1993 and remains current. This Regent Honeyeater version has been prepared for web publication. It Xanthomyza phrygia retains the original text of the action statement, although contact information, the distribution map and the illustration may have been updated. © The State of Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment, 2003 Published by the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria. Regent Honeyeater (Xanthomyza phrygia) Distribution in Victoria (DSE 2002) 8 Nicholson Street, (Illustration by John Las Gourgues) East Melbourne, distributed within about 300 km of the Victoria 3002 Australia Description and Distribution The Regent Honeyeater (Xanthomyza eastern Australian coast from about 100 km This publication may be of phrygia Shaw 1794) is a specialised, north of Brisbane to Adelaide. However, it is assistance to you but the medium-size honeyeater (Family no longer found in South Australia (Franklin State of Victoria and its Meliphagidae) inhabiting drier open forests & Menkhorst 1988) or western Victoria employees do not guarantee and woodlands in south-eastern Australia. (Franklin et al. 1989). Further, population that the publication is Adults weigh 41 to 46 g. Plumage is dispersion within this distribution is now without flaw of any kind or predominantly black with bright yellow patchy. The species is highly mobile, but is wholly appropriate for little information is available on movement your particular purposes edges to tail and wing feathers. Body patterns. and therefore disclaims all feathers, except for the head and neck, are liability for any error, loss broadly edged in pale yellow or white In Victoria, Regent Honeyeaters occur or other consequence which (Longmore 1991). The overall visual mainly in dry open forest and woodland in may arise from you relying impression is of a blackish bird boldly areas of low to moderate relief on the inland on any information in this embroidered with yellow and white, with slopes of the Great Dividing Range. They publication. brilliant yellow flashes in wings and tail. A occur frequently in broad valleys extending large patch of bare, warty skin surrounds into the ranges. They also occasionally visit ISSN 1448-9902 each eye. coastal East Gippsland. Nests are constructed of strips of eucalypt A large proportion of their preferred open- bark, dried grass and other plant material. forest communities has been cleared for They are placed in an upright fork 4-25 m agriculture, leaving only patches of natural above ground and 2-3 eggs are laid. In vegetation in a predominantly agricultural Victoria, nesting occurs mainly between landscape. These remnants are frequently November and January but breeding has growing on the least fertile sites and have been recorded in all months between been heavily harvested for timber in the past. September and February. In Victoria, large areas (400 000 ha) of The Regent Honeyeater was formerly immature, even-aged and slow-growing box- ironbark forests are all that remain of the once extensive Austins Crossing in NSW and Reef Hills Park in Victoria. Much woodlands; there are no examples of uncut old-growth box- larger aggregations were reported in the past; for example ironbark woodland remaining. A similar, though less Ramsay (1866) 'in immense numbers' and White (1909) 'in critical, situation exists in New South Wales. thousands'. The major concerns about the status of the Regent Honeyeater Conservation Status are summarised below. Current status • It has specialised habitat requirements with an Garnett (1992) Endangered apparent reliance on a small number of favoured DCE (1991) Endangered sites.. ANZECC (in prep.) Endangered • There have been significant reductions in the extent SAC (1991) Threatened and quality of habitat.. • There has been a reduction in range in recent decades The Regent Honeyeater has been listed as a threatened (probably ongoing in central Victoria);. taxon in Schedule 2 of the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act • The Regent Honeyeater has a low population level 1988. based on the 1988-1990 survey (Webster & Menkhorst 1992) between 500 and 1500 is considered a reasonable Reasons for Conservation Status estimate - and low population densities throughout its Taxonomic Discreteness range.. The Regent Honeyeater is the only member of its genus, • There are no obvious short-term solutions to the Xanthomyza, and its morphology does not vary across its postulated causes of the population decline. Only range (Shodde et al. 1992). Schodde & McKean (1976) long-term changes to land management, on both considered that it is most closely related to the highland public and private land, will lead to a significant Papuan honeyeaters of the genus Melidectes. Therefore, on improvement. the grounds of phylogenetic distinctness alone, the Regent In its final recommendation the SAC (1991) determined that the Honeyeater warrants high priority for conservation action. Regent Honeyeater is: • in a demonstrable state of decline which is likely to Distribution result in extinction; . Recent surveys clearly indicated that the range of the • significantly prone to future threats which are likely Regent Honeyeater has contracted significantly. It is no to result in extinction; and. longer found in South Australia (Franklin & Menkhorst • very rare in terms of abundance or distribution. 1988), is now a rare vagrant in the Bendigo area of central Victoria (Franklin et al. 1987) where it was formerly Major Conservation Objectives common (Ryan 1951, 1981), and is rare or absent in • Retain and enhance all stands of native open forest or Gippsland where it was a regular spring and summer woodland within the range of the Regent Honeyeater visitor. that contain any of the 'key' eucalypt species The most recent survey (Webster & Menkhorst 1992) Eucalyptus sideroxylon (Red Ironbark), E albens highlighted the extreme patchiness of the population. In (White Box), E. melliodora (Yellow Box), and E. NSW and the ACT, 77% of records were from four leucoxylon (Yellow Gum). This should include localities: Warrumbungle National Park, Austins Crossing, remnant stands on agricultural land, in streamside Capertee Valley and Canberra. In Victoria, 82% of records and roadside reserves, travelling stock routes, State were from three localities: Chiltern Park, Killawarra State forest and conservation reserves.. Forest and Reef Hills Park. • Manage all such sites to retain the number of the key The current lack of knowledge of movement patterns or the eucalypt species and to increase the number of mature whereabouts of birds when they are absent from the known trees of these species.. sites is a matter for concern. • Stabilise the population at least at its present level until the availability and quality of habitat can be Abundance increased through natural regeneration and Density measurements are extremely difficult to obtain, and revegetation works, including some habitat on high probably have little meaning for a highly mobile species fertility sites.. thinly spread over large areas of eastern Australia. During • Initiate further research into micro-habitat utilisation, two years of survey, 299 sightings were recorded from 51 movement patterns, the role of inter-specific separate localities. It is estimated that no more than 102 competition for nectar, and the breeding success of the individuals were observed during 1988-89 and no more Regent Honeyeater.. than 145 during 1989-90 (Webster & Menkhorst 1992). • Establish a recovery team to supervise all elements of Most sightings involved small numbers of birds - 30% of this action statement and to recommend changes to observations were of a single bird and 31 % of two; 88% of management actions based on new information that observations were of four or fewer. Flocks of 10 or more may result from research. Regent Honeyeaters were found on eight occasions (2.7%) and the largest aggregations were of 23 birds at both 2 Management Issues pastoral land has also depleted the quality of remnant stands. Many eucalypts in rural areas have a limited life expectancy Ecological Issues Specific to the Taxon and seedling recruitment is suppressed by stock grazing. The Regent Honeyeater is highly specialised to box- Further attrition of habitat by clearing, dieback and timber ironbark eucalypt associations. The results of all studies harvesting continues throughout the Regent Honeyeater's concur strongly on the specialised dietary preferences of the range. Measures to turn around this loss of habitat are urgently Regent Honeyeater (Franklin et al. 1989,Webster & required. Menkhorst 1992). The species is highly nectarivorous and Despite increased knowledge from studies conducted since remarkably consistent in preferring nectar from four 1985, a long-term program of research and management is eucalypt species: E sideroxylon, E. albens, E melliodora and necessary to ensure the survival of the Regent Honeyeater. A E. leucoxylon. Note that the most highly preferred ironbark major need is improved knowledge of its ecological species is E. sideroxylon, which occurs in Victoria only in requirements, movement patterns and the role of competition the north-east, and not E. tricarpa, the form occurring from other honeyeaters and honeybees for a depleted nectar across central Victoria and Gippsland and recently elevated source. to species level (Hill & Johnson 1991). Except in gardens, it Because of the complex movement patterns of the Regent rarely takes nectar from shrubs, including
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