Another 49 Regent Honeyeaters released on Wonnarua Country

A NSW Regent Honeyeater release update

49 zoo-bred Regent Honeyeaters have been released in NSW’s Lower Hunter, as part of a national effort to help this Critically Endangered species recover.

We’re helping save the Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeater from extinction – one release at a time!

Another 49 Regent Honeyeaters have been released on Wonnarua Country, in a bid to help boost the tiny wild population of this threatened species.

The zoo-bred birds were released into the spotted gum-ironbark forests of the Tomalpin Woodlands, the largest remaining woodland in NSW’s Lower Hunter Valley. This ecologically and culturally significant land is owned by Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council and was chosen for its rich breeding and feeding habitat, following another good flowering season.

In the weeks leading up to the release, staff from BirdLife Australia’s Woodland Birds team recorded a promising flurry of activity in the Lower Hunter including a flock of 17 wild, un-banded birds feeding on spotted gum blossom – the largest single flock of Regent Honeyeaters recorded anywhere since 2017. Excitingly, a female zoo-bred bird from the 2024 release later joined this flock.

The latest NSW Regent Honeyeater release is the third large-scale release on Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council land and the fifth release state-wide, as part of a national effort to help this Critically Endangered species recover.

In a powerful reminder of the significance of returning Regent Honeyeaters to Country, Wonnarua Elder Uncle Richard Edwards welcomed the birds and people present with a Traditional smoking ceremony, before the birds emerged from their tents to explore their new home. Remarkably, a Swift Parrot – another Critically Endangered woodland species – called overhead during the ceremony.

All 49 birds were banded with a unique combination of coloured leg bands, and some were also fitted with tiny, state-of-the-art radio transmitters, to help track the movements of this highly-mobile species.

Since 2000, the Regent Honeyeater Recovery Team has released approximately 485 zoo-bred birds into the wild. With fewer than 300 wild Regent Honeyeaters remaining and most of their population now limited to NSW, captive breeding and releases could mean the difference between extinction and survival for these remarkable birds.

“These releases of zoo-bred Regent Honeyeaters are vital to the survival of this uniquely Australian bird – and they are working!” said Mick Roderick, BirdLife Australia’s Regent Honeyeater Recovery Advisor.

“Any observations by members of the public are greatly beneficial to our ongoing efforts to track the survival and movements of our released birds and chicks.”

If you’re lucky enough to see a Regent Honeyeater in the wild, please report your sighting using our contact form. To help distinguish between Regent Honeyeaters and commonly confused species, check out our Regent Honeyeater ID guide.

Acknowledgements:

The NSW Regent Honeyeater breeding and release program is a conservation partnership between the NSW Government’s Saving our Species Program, BirdLife Australia and Taronga Conservation Society Australia, with additional support from NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Local Land Services and the Australian National University.

This Regent Honeyeater release was coordinated by BirdLife Australia, NSW Saving our Species, Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council, Taronga Conservation Society Australia and Hunter Local Land Services.

Helping Regent Honeyeaters find their voice

Once a common sight across south-eastern Australia, the Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeater is now so rare that it’s losing its song. With fewer than 300 Regents left in the wild, some young males are unable to find other adults to teach them their songs. Instead, they’re learning the songs of other more common woodland birds – which means they’re less likely to find a partner and reproduce.

To help them find their voice, researchers at Taronga and Australian National University (ANU) are ‘song tutoring’ zoo-bred Regent Honeyeaters – successfully teaching young birds how to sing by playing the song of adults through speakers in their aviary, or by placing young birds in close proximity to adults.

But captive releases are also helping restore Regent Honeyeater song culture.

In May, three zoo-bred Regent Honeyeaters (a female and two males from a 2022 release) were spotted among a dozen-strong mixed flock on a private property in the Lower Hunter. While the two males didn’t receive song tutoring in captivity, they were singing just like their wild counterparts – in fact, they were so convincing our team first mistook them for wild birds! This promising sighting reveals that zoo-bred Regents are reconnecting with and learning from wild birds.