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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 Body mass: 35-45 g

Australia: Family Group 18 Family Group 18 Table Yellow Wattlebird Red Wattlebird Little Wattlebird Western Wattlebird Regent Honeyeater Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Striped Honeyeater Helmeted Friarbird Silver-crowned Friarbird Noisy Friarbird Little Friarbird Blue-faced Honeyeater Bell Miner Yellow-throated Miner Noisy Miner Macleay's Honeyeater Tawny-breasted Honeyeater Yellow-spotted Honeyeater Graceful Honeyeater Lewin's Honeyeater Yellow-faced Honeyeater Bridled Honeyeater Eungella Honeyeater Singing Honeyeater Mangrove Honeyeater Varied Honeyeater White-lined Honeyeater Kimberley Honeyeater White-gaped Honeyeater Yellow Honeyeater White-eared Honeyeater Yellow-throated Honeyeater Yellow-tufted Honeyeater Purple-gaped Honeyeater Grey-headed Honeyeater Yellow-plumed Honeyeater Grey-fronted Honeyeater Fuscous Honeyeater Yellow-tinted Honeyeater White-plumed Honeyeater Green-backed Honeyeater Brown Honeyeater Bar-breasted Honeyeater Brown-backed Honeyeater Rufous-throated Honeyeater Grey Honeyeater Tawny-crowned Honeyeater Rufous-banded Honeyeater White-streaked Honeyeater New Holland Honeyeater White-cheeked Honeyeater Crescent Honeyeater White-fronted Honeyeater Painted Honeyeater Black-chinned Honeyeater White-throated Honeyeater Strong-billed Honeyeater White-naped Honeyeater Brown-headed Honeyeater Black-headed Honeyeater Eastern Spinebill Western Spinebill Banded Honeyeater Black Honeyeater Pied Honeyeater Scarlet Honeyeater Red-headed Honeyeater Dusky Honeyeater Garden Sunbird Gibberbird Crimson Chat Orange Chat Yellow Chat White-fronted Chat Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Regent Honeyeaters are medium-sized nectar-eating birds. They are one of the rarest bird species in Australia. They have a unique "jizz", at a glance the top half appearing all-black and the bottom half all-yellow. In reality, the head and chest are black, except for warty skin patches around the eyes, the belly is black-and-yellow scalloped, transitioning into an all yellowish-white vent. The wings are boldly patterned black and yellow, while the tail is yellow. The irises are dark, the bill, legs and feet are all dark-grey. The differences between the two sexes are small. Male Regent Honeeyeaters have more warty skin around the eyes, a longer bill and more black on the throat than females. Juvenile Regent Honeyeaters are greyish-brown where adults are black and they lack the warty skin patches.

Taxonomy, classification See Regent Honeyeater at Wikipedia . Click here for classification information Regent Honeyeaters are now known to be related to the wattlebirds.

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Regent Honeyeater is available HERE . Regent Honeyeaters are endemic to Australia. They are found only in the South-East of the Australian continent, from the hill ranges of central northern VIC to about the NSW/QLD border. It is possible that their range extends further into the hills of southern QLD, to about the tropic of Capricorn, but their movements are uncertain. In NSW they are found in the Great Dividing Range and along a coastal strip from about the estuary of the Clarence River to the border with VIC and a bit beyond, to about Lakes Entrance, VIC. A former population in SA, to the North of Adelaide, is probably extinct. Regent Honeyeaters can be found around flowering trees in forest, often near water courses and are usually seen high up in the crowns. They like the flowers of various types of box trees and in particular those of Swamp Mahogany and Mugga ironbark eucalypts. Since they are very rare, reliable information on the whereabouts of Regent Honeyeaters is scarce. Please report any sightings to the "birdline" for NSW (or any other state you happen to find one).

Sightings Click here for sighting information Regent Honeyeaters were found nesting in the Hunter Economic Zone, Kurri Kurri, NSW, in 2007 by A. Zoneff. We first spotted Regent Honeyeaters in bushland 5 km East of Morisset, NSW, in June 2011. A. Morris's help with these observations is greatly appreciated. In October 2015, when lots of eucalypts were flowering locally, at least 3 Regent Honeyeaters were found at and around a waterhole in Timmallallie NP, which is a southern part of the Pilliga scrub near Baradine, NSW. B. Hensen reports spotting a Regent Honeyeater at St. Albans, NSW, in October 2016 and again in October 2017. M. Roderick finds Regent Honeyeaters semi-regularly in various locations in the lower Hunter valley, NSW, and in Capertee NP, NSW. M. Eaton reports finding a pair of Regent Honeyeaters at Springfield Lakes, Brisbane, QLD, in July 2019.

Photos

ADULT

PAIR

Many bird species exhibit sexual dimorphism, i.e., male and female have differing appearances which can be quite subtle.
Male Regent Honeyeaters, left, have more extended warty skin around the eyes than females.

MALE

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

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

Near-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]

Distant lateral/ventral view of 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

Note that since the 20th century the social habits of Regent Honeyeaters, as a result of their precipitous decline, will have changed. While previously they were numerous (in one early bird survey in the Pilliga scrub more Regent Honeyeaters were counted than the total estimated population in the 2020ies), now birds are largely isolated, making it difficult for them to find partners for breeding. Territorial disputes will also not be internal (between Regent Honeyeaters) any longer, but more likely with other species replacing them in their former niches in the environment.

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.