Chasing Regent Honeyeaters

(Must get a better camera)

Regent Honeyeaters anthochaera phrygia where once widespread and abundant in south-eastern Australia but since the 1950s have declined and are now critically endangered.  Last week I was in northern Victoria working with the captive release monitoring programme (La Trobe, Monash, DELWP, NE Catchment) radio-tracking the 40 birds fitted with transmitters. I spent a great day with Dean Ingwersen (Birdlife Aust). Honeyeaters are Australia’s pollinators (honeybees are from Europe) and normally, these birds move in large flocks following flowering events. The release was timed for Ironbark flowering in Vic autumn/winter. Individual birds are constantly harassed by aggressive noisy-miners and wattle-birds, so large flock numbers is important to Regent survival. Lets hope the programme works!