Regent Honeyeater

1. Black head and neck with yellow scalloped markings on back and wings.

2. Males show a patch of warty, bare yellow or pinkish skin around the eye.

3. Black tail with broad yellow corners visible in flight.

These honeyeaters primarily feed on nectar from flowering eucalypts, but will also eat insects, lerp, and manna. They are highly mobile, tracking food resources across the landscape. Breeding occurs from August to January, with females building cup-shaped nests made from stripts of eucalypt bark, spider webs and grasses lined with fine material and placed high in mature trees. Both parents feed the chicks. The species is strongly nomadic and its movements are closely tied to the availability of nectar-rich blossoms. Habitat loss and competition from aggressive species like Noisy Miners have contributed to their decline, with just 250-300 individuals estimated in the wild as of 2024\. Once widespread from Rockhampton to Adelaide, the Regent Honeyeater’s decline reflects the loss of box-ironbark woodlands in southeastern Australia. The species is now a flagship for woodland conservation, with programs focusing on habitat restoration and captive breeding to support population recovery.

Regent Honeyeaters are found in box-ironbark forests and woodlands in northeastern Victoria and parts of New South Wales, especially along the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range. They move in response to the flowering of eucalypts such as Yellow Box, Mugga Ironbark, and White Box. Sightings are rare, but the Capertee Valley and Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park are key locations for observation.