Only the lonely: How regent honeyeaters are learning to sing again
By Bianca Hall
D-d…d-d-d…d! The distinctive trill of a critically endangered regent honeyeater brings a beam to woodland bird expert Mick Roderick’s face.
It’s a giddy high: this quintessentially Australian bird, with its black head, spotted breast and soaring black-and-gold tail is elusive and enigmatic. Spotting them in the wild is a birdwatcher’s dream.
“Mauve-White”, a former resident of Taronga Zoo, was one of two former captive birds spotted singing like a wild bird.Credit: Mick Roderick
Regent honeyeaters made headlines around the world three years ago when researchers discovered their rarity was leading them to forget their own songs. Instead, they were increasingly mimicking other birds like noisy friarbirds and eastern rosellas.
But there are signs this could be turning around. Ebullient birdwatchers from BirdLife Australia report several zoo-bred birds released into the wild seem to have learned the songs of wild birds.
In one flock spotted in the Hunter Valley, researchers managed to identify three birds that had been bred and released from captivity, said Roderick, who is BirdLife Australia’s regent honeyeater recovery coordinator.
“We think there’s about 12 birds all up, of which three are birds that we released in 2022 – two males and a female – and both of those males have picked up the song of the wild males that they’re hanging around with.”
The songs were akin to wild bird’s songs, and different to those recorded when they were released, Roderick said.
Unlike bird calls, which are innate, birdsongs are learned over time and the complex musical arrangements are used in courtship and mating.
With fewer than 400 regents left in the wild, researchers feared there simply weren’t enough mature regents left to teach younger males how to sing their way into a would-be mate’s heart.
Taronga Zoo behavioural ecologist Dr Ben Pitcher said when the conservation breeding program began almost 20 years ago, young birds who had yet to learn their songs were brought from the wild into captivity.
Critically endangered regent honeyeaters have been flocking to flowering spotted gums in the Hunter region.Credit: Mick Roderick
In the early days, keepers recorded wild regents’ songs, and put cassette tape recordings of birdsong in captive birds’ aviaries. Later, they put microphones into aviaries with adult birds, and speakers in the juvenile birds’ aviaries.
“A few years ago we did a study of the success of the birds that we bred in the zoo and released out, and we found that one of the big predictors of success for the birds was whether they had been tutored [in birdsong] or not,” Pitcher said.
“If they had a better song when they were released, they were more likely to go on to be successful in the wild. And we put that down to probably forming up flocks with the other regent honeyeaters, and also the opportunity to find a mate.”
Taronga Zoo redoubled its efforts, partnering with the Australian National University to find the most effective way to teach birds their full-length and complex songs. They discovered “live tutors” – wild-born birds who still sang an intact song – were the best teachers.
Regent Honeyeater with juvenile chicks waiting for a feed in the forests of north-east NSW.Credit: Mick Roderick/NEFA
“And thanks to all that effort in the last season or two, we’ve really had some great successes in terms of the zoo-bred birds recovering that wild song and singing correctly, and so we can now put them back into the wild,” Pitcher said.
As spotted gums flower across the east coast of Australia this winter (they flower every few years), they are creating irresistible conditions for regents – and birdwatchers.
BirdLife Australia’s woodland birds team and citizen scientists have been busy recording sightings.
“Regent honeyeaters are extremely mobile, but they’re also very fussy,” Roderick said.
“They have their favourite trees, just like koalas have their favourite trees, and that’s probably been their undoing because when you lose 90 per cent of your habitat, and you’re still roaming the countryside, turning your nose up at other blossom that’s available ... it’s a high-risk lifestyle.”
Dr Ross Crates, from Australian National University, sounded a note of caution about whether captive-born regents were recovering their songs after release to the wild.
Crates, who co-authored the research showing regent honeyeaters were adopting the songs of other bird species, said there was no evidence from many years of observations in the zoo that regent honeyeaters could drastically change their songs once they were more than a year old.
“Most songbirds are what we call ‘close-ended learners’, which means their adult songs are pretty much fixed by the time they are a year old,” he said.
“As far as I am aware there are only one or two observations in the wild of zoo-bred birds making vocalisations that somewhat resemble those of wild birds.
“I’m not saying its impossible that zoo birds can’t learn wild songs after they are released, just that currently the evidence is at best anecdotal. Our research over coming years will shed more light on this.”
If you see a regent honeyeater in the wild, contact BirdLife Australia.
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