REGENT HONEYEATER IDENTIFICATION GUIDE

Broad patch of bare warty Males call prominently, skin around the eye, which whereas females only is smaller in young birds occasionally make soft calls. and females. Best seen at close range or with binoculars. Plumage around the head Regent Honeyeaters are and neck is solid black 20-24 cm long, with females giving a slightly hooded smaller and having duller appearance. plumage than the males.

Distinctive scalloped (not streaked) breast.

Broad stripes of yellow in the wing when folded, and very prominent in flight.

From below the tail is a bright yellow. From behind it’s black bordered by bright yellow feathers.

COMMON MISIDENTIFICATIONS

YELLOW-TUFTED HONEYEATER NEW HOLLAND HONEYEATER WHITE-CHEEKED HONEYEATER Lichenostomus melanops Phylidonyris novaehollandiae Phylidonyris niger Habitat: Box-Gum-Ironbark Habitat: Woodland with heathy Habitat: Heathlands, parks and woodlands and forest with a understorey, gardens and gardens, less commonly open shrubby understorey. parklands. woodland. Notes: Common, sedentary bird Notes: Often misidentified as a Notes: Similar to New Holland of temperate woodlands. Has a Regent Honeyeater; commonly Honeyeaters, but have a large distinctive yellow crown and ear seen in urban parks and gardens. patch of white feathers in their tuft in a black face, with a bright Distinctive white breast with black cheek and a dark eye (no white yellow throat. Underparts are streaks, several patches of white eye ring). Also have white breast plain dirty yellow, upperparts around the face, and a white eye streaked black. olive-green. ring. Tend to be in small, noisy and aggressive flocks.

PAINTED HONEYEATER CRESCENT HONEYEATER Grantiella picta Phylidonyris pyrrhopterus Habitat: Box-Ironbark woodland, Habitat: Wetter habitats like particularly with fruiting mistletoe forest, dense woodland and Notes: A seasonal migrant, only coastal heathlands. visiting NSW and Vic in spring and Notes: Not commonly seen in summer. Have a vivid pink bill, association with Regents, given almost wholly white underparts, their preference for dense, wetter and solid black plumage on habitats. However found in coastal the head and back. A mistletoe heaths which Regents sometimes specialist rarely seen foraging in utilise. A distinctive black ‘saddle’ eucalyptus flowers. marking over the shoulder and breast.

SIZE COMPARISON Measurements are from the tip of the beak to the tip of the tail.

Noisy Miner Regent Honeyeater Common Starling Yellow-tufted Honeyeater White-cheeked Honeyeater New Holland Honeyeater Crescent Honeyeater Painted Honeyeater 27cm 24cm 21cm 21cm 20cm 20cm 17cm 15cm

AUSTRALIA A GUIDE TO IDENTIFYING THE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED REGENT HONEYEATER

AUSTRALIA INTRODUCTION HOW TO FIND A REGENT POPULATION DECLINE The Regent Honeyeater is a medium-sized bird living in woodland In the mid-1800’s Regent Honeyeaters were enthusiastically and forest in south-east Australia. They are known as a ‘rich 1. Look for flowering gum trees (especially described as occurring in ‘thousands’ in some locations, and patch nomad’, moving around the landscape to follow flowering ironbarks, box and spotted gum). as recently as the early 1900’s were at times the most common (more accurately the nectar flows) of their favoured tree species. species in an area. Unfortunately this is no longer the case with fewer than 500 estimated to still survive in the wild. Now Scientific title 2. Check flowering mistletoe in gum trees or considered extinct in western Victoria and South Australia, the river sheoaks. range has contracted and is patchy. The key regions for them ANTHOCHAERA PHRYGIA now are west of Armidale and the Capertee and Hunter Valleys in NSW, and north-east Victoria. Size 3. Look for congregations of similar species, like 20-24 CM friarbirds and other small honeyeaters. Lifespan 4. Learn the calls – Regent Honeyeaters are 10 YEARS quieter than other honeyeaters. Population<500 COLOUR BANDING Hundreds of Regent Honeyeaters have been banded in the wild or Status released wearing colour bands. Every banded bird has two bands on each leg - on one there will be a colour band above a metal band, CRITICALLY ENDANGERED while on the other leg there will be two colour bands. This allows individuals to be traced back to the point of capture (wild birds) or Threats release (captive bred birds). Our longest recorded movement by a bird is 580km point-to-point. HABITAT LOSS Historic species range & COMPETITION N Current species range

Sydney HABITAT Canberra WHAT TO RECORD Melbourne

Identifying band colours can be a challenge, and is where good binoculars and taking a photo can help. The challenge lies in remembering the birds lefts and rights, dealing with bad light and birds moving behind foliage or branches. It’s not often you get a good TAKE A PHOTO view of both legs at the same time. This makes accurate recording This is probably the most valuable piece of information! of all four bands difficult. Fear not! Any information is worthwhile. Even poor quality photos can help to confirm a sighting, The accepted method for recording a band combination involves age and sex the bird, identify habitat and bands! ‘reading’ the bands from top to bottom (i.e. closest to the body recorded first, closest to the foot recorded second). SCRIBBLE NOTES Try and write down as much information as possible: Regent Honeyeaters tend to favour certain types of trees, Colour bands currently in use • Date & time • Leg band colours particularly those which are large and old in good soil. • Location • Behaviour The species favoured include: • Amount • Other species present · White Box (Eucalyptus albens) · Yellow Box (E. melliodora) [above] · Mugga Ironbark (E. sideroxlyon) Example photographs of banded Regents CONTACT US · Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculata) Dean Ingwersen · Swamp Mahogany (E. robusta) Regent Honeyeater Recovery Coordinator · River Sheoak (Casuarina cunninghamiana)

Along with these trees they also seek out flowering mistletoe, in 1800 621 056 particular Box Mistletoe (Amyema miquelli) in box and ironbark OR woodlands, and Needle-leaf Mistletoe (Amyema cambagei) in River Sheoak. Regents will also take advantage of planted gum Left leg - Blue over Red Left leg - Orange over Blue [email protected] trees and native shrubs in parks and gardens at times. Right leg - Pink over Metal Right leg - Red over Metal

© All rights reserved BirdLife Australia Ltd. Photographs by Dean Ingwersen, Jan Wegener, Chris Tzaros and BIA/Rob Drummond.