Still on the Regent Honeyeater at Newstead, Vic!

[Chris Tzaros <>]

Very well said David Geering.  Now, I've discussed the following
topic with you on previous occasions, but for the benefit of interested
on-lookers, and to take advantage of this moment while we're all talking
about Regent Honeyeaters, could you possibly (breifly) explain your
thoughts on the separate Victorian/NSW populations of Regent
Honeyeaters.  You mentioned in an earlier posting that you can
notice a difference in the calls of Victorian and NSW birds, yet there is
evidence, through sightings of banded birds from Chiltern, that Vic.
birds travel to NSW (Capertee Valley).  Did the Chiltern bird then
start talking the NSW lingo?  And, is there reason to believe that
if there are state populations of Regents, that they occasionally 'mix',
or is there just the one single population of the species occurring
throughout Vic, NSW and SE Qld, and that the birds are highly nomadic in
their pursuit of suitable foraging pastures, and thus could turn up
anywhere?

In relation to what Lawrie wrote about the Newstead bird being lost,
though within it's former range, it is within former range but really
only on the edge of it's 'regular' former range.  Regent Honeyeaters
in the western parts of central Victoria (west of Newstead, through the
box-ironbark country around Maryborough, St Arnaud, Stawell etc.) have
never really occurred as anything but vagrants.  However, as David
Geering pointed out, they are regular still at places such as Chiltern
and Killawarra in north-east Victoria.  They were once a common bird
in the urban streets of Bendigo and Maryborough but the last sighting
from Bendigo was around 1994 and Maryborough 1986.  The interesting
thing that I draw the readers attention to here is that in these urban
streetscapes, the birds were using planted Mugga Ironbark (E.
sideroxylon), which in Victoria naturally occurs only in the north-east
(around Chiltern and Killawarra).  Even at the time when Regents
were common in Bendigo and Maryborough towns, they were seldom seen in
the naturally occurring Red Ironbark (E. tricarpa) forests surrounding
the towns, despite the presence of other high nectar producing eucalypts
like Yellow Gum (E. leucoxylon).  The street plantings of Mugga have
been slowly but surely disappearing from both Bendigo and Maryborough,
and shamefully replaced by exotic trees.  This should be criminal
offence in my opinion!  So in wrapping-up my rambling thoughts, this
recent observation of the Newstead bird is even more exciting and
significant because it is foraging in Red ironbark and Yellow Gum, not
Mugga.  Is there a chance that more Regents have come to central
Victoria along with the Newstead bird, considering that at the moment,
the Red Ironbark and Yellow Gum forests of central Victoria are producing
good blossom, and the north-east is relatively dry?  I think so, but
as David says, one needs to look real hard to find them.  As an
incentive to search, I offer a small prize to the person who next finds a
Regent Honeyeater in central Victoria, and informs either David or
myself!

Happy Regenting!



At 10:38 AM 6/12/03 +1000, you wrote:

> Lawrie Conole wrote
> "Either way, in Newstead it
> is well and truly lost - though in former Regent Honeyeater
> haunts" 
>
> Now, I know what Lawrie meant so I won't take him to task on
> this but it offers an opportunity to provide some comments on the
> distribution and occurrence of Regent Honeyeater in Victoria, at least as
> we understand it. 
>
> Everyone would be aware that Regent Honeyeaters has suffered
> a dramatic decline in distribution in Victoria (as well as extinction in
> South Australia).  The majority of records now comes from the
> north-east of the state (primarily Chiltern) and across the border in the
> suburbs of Albury.  The number of records in recent years suggests
> that the decline of the Regent Honeyeater is still happening in Victoria
> with perhaps only 50-100 birds remaining (closer to 50 than
> 100??). 
>
> This, however, is only a small part of the story.  For
> a fair proportion of the year Regent Honeyeaters are not at Chiltern
> which begs the question of just where are they?  Now there's the
> $64000 question!  The Regent HE and Swift Parrot Recovery Teams hold
> two annual search weekends a year in May and August in an effort to get
> as many people out there looking in suitable habitat.  This
> invariable results in very few Regents being found in Victoria despite
> the massive effort. 
>
> Where do we think they are disappearing to?  Evidence
> in NSW suggests that they probably move around in small groups only
> forming larger flocks at favoured sites with high levels of
> resources.  Bear in mind that the population size in Victoria is
> probably working against the formation of anything but a small
> group.  Single Regent Honeyeaters or small groups can be very
> cryptic.  I've walked around areas where I knew there were Regent
> Honeyeaters and have had trouble locating them feeding quietly in the
> upper canopy.  This behaviour works against us locating them.
>
> So where are they?  Sightings in Victoria point towards
> them moving around the edge of the high country - south to places like
> Alexandra and in some years further to the Melbourne suburbs.  This
> past twelve months or so we have even had two records from
> Gippsland!  Add to this the occasional record from a former
> stronghold - Lurg near Benalla and then records from late last year from
> Puckapunyal and we are getting further into territory once used regularly
> by Regent Honeyeaters.  From Puckapunyal to Newstead is not that
> great a stretch of the imagination particularly as there are fairly
> extensive Red Ironbark forests between the two. 
>
> So, there are probably Regent Honeyeaters out there (they
> have to be somewhere) but they are cryptic and in small numbers. 
> Nevertheless you have to look to find them.   
>
> Cheers 
>
> David Geering
> Regent Honeyeater Recovery Coordinator
> NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service
> P.O. Box 2111
> Dubbo  NSW  2830
> Ph: 02 6883 5335 or Freecall 1800 621 056
> Fax: 02 6884 9382
>
>
>
> This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain
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> If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify the
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> Wildlife Service.

Chris Tzaros
Research and Conservation Officer
Birds Australia (Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union)
National Office
415 Riversdale Rd
Hawthorn East, Vic., 3123
Ph: 03-9882-2622
Fax: 03-9882-2677
Email:
Website address: http://www.birdsaustralia.com.au
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