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18

Regent Honeyeater

(Anthochaera phrygia)
Alternate name(s): "Warty-faced Honeyeater", "Turkey-bird",
"Mock Regent", "Flying Coachman", "Embroidered Honeyeater"
Aboriginal name(s): "yalgan" [western bundjalung]

Size: 20-23 cm
Weight: 35-45 g
Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description

Click here for a physical description

Taxonomy, classification

See Regent Honeyeater at Wikipedia .

Click here for classification information

Range, habitat, finding this species

Click here for information on habitat and range

Sightings

Click here for sighting information

Photos

ADULT

MALE

Full-frontal view of a Regent Honeyeater; the conspicuous skin wattles around the eyes and the raven-black throat and chest indicate that this is a male
[Timmallallie NP, near Baradine, NSW, October 2015]

Near-frontal view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater approaching a waterhole
[Timmallallie NP, near Baradine, NSW, October 2015]

Near-lateral view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater approaching a waterhole
[Timmallallie NP, near Baradine, NSW, October 2015]

Near-lateral/ventral view of a male Regent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Springfield Lakes, Brisbane, QLD, July 2019]

Lateral view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, October 2016]

Lateral view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, October 2016]

Lateral view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater approaching a waterhole
[Timmallallie NP, near Baradine, NSW, October 2015]

Lateral/ventral view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater in a flowering eucalypt tree
[Timmallallie NP, near Baradine, NSW, October 2015]

Near-dorsal view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, October 2016]

Near-dorsal view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater
[Timmallallie NP, near Baradine, NSW, October 2015]

Dorsal view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, October 2016]

Two dorsal views of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater, showing the same bird's head from both sides; photo series like this can potentially be used to study whether the facial wart pattern is mirror-symmetric (photos courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, October 2016]

Ventral view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater
[Timmallallie NP, near Baradine, NSW, October 2015]

FEMALE

Full-frontal/ventral view of a female Regent Honeyeater; note that this bird is less black on throat and chest than visible in the frontal view of a male shown above (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Springfield Lakes, Brisbane, QLD, July 2019]

Frontal/ventral view of a female Regent Honeyeater
[Timmallallie NP, near Baradine, NSW, October 2015]

Frontal/ventral view of a female Regent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Springfield Lakes, Brisbane, QLD, July 2019]

Lateral/ventral view of a female Regent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Springfield Lakes, Brisbane, QLD, July 2019]

Lateral/ventral view of a female Regent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Springfield Lakes, Brisbane, QLD, July 2019]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a singing female Regent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Springfield Lakes, Brisbane, QLD, July 2019]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a female Regent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Springfield Lakes, Brisbane, QLD, July 2019]

Sex unknown

Some Regent Honeyeater acrobatics (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Springfield Lakes, Brisbane, QLD, July 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a Regent Honeyeater (photo courtesy of H. Mouritsen)
[Timmallallie NP, near Baradine, NSW, October 2015]

Two Regent Honeyeaters near a gully lined with Swamp Mahogany trees in flower; first they checked out the area from a nearby eucalypt tree
[Near Morisset, NSW, June 2011]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal/ventral view of two juvenile Regent Honeyeaters (photo courtesy of M. Roderick)
[Capertee NP, near Mudgee, NSW, November 2017]

Frontal view of two juvenile Regent Honeyeaters begging for food (photo courtesy of M. Roderick)
[Capertee NP, near Mudgee, NSW, November 2017]

Adult Regent Honeyeater feeding a juvenile (photo courtesy of M. Roderick)
[Capertee NP, near Mudgee, NSW, November 2017]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Aug - Feb Eggs: 2 - 3 Incubation period: 14 - 15 days Fledging age: ca. 16 days

Nest building: Female Incubation: Female Dependent care: Female & male

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Supported basket Material: Bark strips, bark fibre, grass lining Height above ground: 2 - 20 m

Female Regent Honeyeater on its nest in Long-flowered Mistletoe, Dendropthoe vitellina, inside a Spotted Gum, Corymbia maculata (photo courtesy of A. Zoneff)
[Hunter Economic Zone, Kurri Kurri, NSW, 2007]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 24 x 18 mm Colour: Creamy, with brown speckles Shape: Tapered oval

Behaviour

Social behaviour: ? Mobility: Dispersive Elementary unit: Pair

According to experts, Regent Honeyeaters come to the ground for two reasons - and two reasons only: To get a drink of water or to collect nesting material.

Near-frontal view of a Regent Honeyeater approaching a waterhole
[Timmallallie NP, near Baradine, NSW, October 2015]

Food, Diet

Regent Honeyeaters feed on nectar. At the time when we observed them on the NSW Central Coast, their preferred blossoms were those of the Swamp Mahogany (see above).

Frontal view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater taking nectar from a Grevillea shrub (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, October 2017]

Lateral view of a male(?) Regent Honeyeater taking nectar from a Grevillea shrub (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[St. Albans, NSW, October 2017]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

reghon_mr_20170720.m4a (E NSW) ? (truncated) © MR

More Regent Honeyeater sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site?
If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.