Help us spot a Regent honeyeater
Tablelands Telegraph - August 2020
Late winter is traditionally the time when one of Australia's rarest birds, the beautiful Regent Honeyeater, starts to meet up with its kind in their breeding grounds, to find a mate and start nesting.
Traditional breeding areas within the Central Tablelands can be found in the Capertee Valley, the Mudgee-Wollar area and along the Goulbourn River, where healthy grassy-box woodlands remain.
The recent drought and widespread bushfire, however, has impacted on many breeding areas, resulting in very little blossom where we would usually expect birds.
To help researchers find where the birds are choosing to stay, we are calling on all landholders with flowering gums such as Yellow Box and Mugga Ironbark, to keep a particular eye out for this very special visitor.
The birds may be spotted using bird baths or other water sources in areas where abundant blossom nectar is available. The Regent Honeyeater Identification Guide, produced by BirdLife Australia, can assist in helping tell the Regent Honeyeater from other black and yellow honeyeaters.
If you do spot this beautiful bird, please try to take a picture and where possible, see if you can also spot any coloured leg bands. Locating individuals with leg bands will help researchers understand how far these birds can travel, how long they may live – and it will also help locate the 20 captive-bred birds that were recently released in the Hunter region.
