From Gladstone's Notebook: Gunning District Bird of the Month

January Bird of the Month:    The Regent Honeyeater

Regent Honeyeater (C)Bill Harding 2016 birdlifephotography.org.au

Gladstone Weatherstone

This is the first story in a projected monthly series inspired by Gladstone Weatherstone (pictured left Image courtesy Wayne Weatherstone].  He lived on his property Lyndfield Park at Oolong near Gunning from 1941 until his death in 1996.  Between 1962 and 1981 this amateur (but very knowledgeable) naturalist and ornithologist kept a notebook. 

 In fine copperplate handwriting he recorded bird sightings - sometimes significant and sometimes commonplace – made on or near his property.  Although he began these records in 1962 his intimate knowledge of local birdlife goes back to 1941.   This notebook, together with Gladstone’s extensive bird egg and nest collections, has been accepted by the National Museum of Australia where they are expected to feature in an Australian Environmental History display now under development.

His son John has transcribed Gladstone’s bird list and loaned it to Gunning and District Historical Society [GDHS] for us to copy.  These articles will highlight some of the things he recorded, try to place them in context and compare what Gladstone saw with the situation today.

What Gladstone Saw 

On 9 January 1972 Gladstone wrote “Leather-heads, Gillbirds and Regent Honeyeaters very active in Silky Oak which is in full flower.  First time Regent Honeyeaters recorded here.”

The very same Silky Oak (pictured left) in which he saw Regent Honeyeaters feeding is still on his former property today.  His son John says that Gladstone, when aged around 80, climbed this tree to cut out a double top, much to the horror of his wife.

Neither Leather-heads (Noisy Friar Birds) nor Gillbirds ( Red Wattle Birds) would be unusual then or now.  But Regent Honeyeaters!  That is something else altogether - not as extraordinary as coming upon a dodo or pterodactyl – but still a very noteworthy sighting of a bird which conservationists today are fighting to save from extinction.

Warty Face or Regent – It is the Same Beautiful Bird

This bird’s grand title of Regent Honeyeater was not the first name by which it was known to white settlers. During the 1800s and into the early years of the following century, it was called the Warty-faced Honeyeater or Honeysucker.  A contemporary Regent Honeyeater photographed by Murray Chambers in 2016 (birdlifephotography.org.au) is shown at right.

Its later very regal title is supposed to have been conferred on it as its striking black and gold feathers were associated with the Prince Regent, later to become King George V [pictured far right in a 1933 portrait by Arthur Stockdale-Cope: image Wikipedia Commons]  The similarly coloured Regent Bowerbird is also said to owe its name to the same monarch in waiting.

A Beautiful Bird in Bother

Regent Honeyeaters feed on nectar (especially from eucalypts), lerps, honeydew and insects.  They were once common throughout the woodlands and forests of south-eastern Australia but they had the misfortune to favour fertile woodlands – just the same environment preferred by farmers.
 

Around 90% of pre white settlement Box Gum Grassy Woodlands have been cleared.  Much of what remains is not in pristine condition.  This means very lean pickings for Regent Honeyeaters.

Pictured left Warty-face Honey-sucker circa 1806-1808 John Lewin.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.  Purchased with funds donated by the Stuart Leslie Foundation 2013.  This digital record has been made available through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest.

Gladstone does not record seeing a Regent Honeyeater again after 1972.  This is not surprising.  While there were some trees on Lyndfield Park, mainly around the house, it was almost entirely devoted to pasture production for stock – not an enticing prospect for the Regent Honeyeater.  It faced the same lean pickings around much of the Gunning district and the entire south east of the country.  It is currently listed as a rare visitor on the Upper Lachlan Shire Council website Birds of the Upper Lachlan Shire by Dr Tony Saunders

While habitat loss is the main cause of the decline of the Regent Honeyeater, it is not the only one.  More aggressive competitors such as Noisy Miners and Red Wattlebirds can displace them from what habitat there is.  Nest predators such as Currawongs, possums and gliders take their eggs.  Their life is hard.

Once there were thousands of Regent Honeyeaters in the forests, woodlands and even cities of south-eastern Australia.  Today, according to a March 2019 article by Dean Ingwersen et al in “Australian Birdlife” there are only around 400 mature birds in the wild.  Without help, they face imminent extinction.

Pulled From the Precipice 

There are quite a few environmental restoration and regenerative farming programs which offer the prospect of more habitat and a better life for our birds, including the Regent Honeyeater.  Two projects in particular have been planting trees for over 20 years specifically for this bird; in the Lurg Hills, Victoria and the Capertee Valley, NSW.  The trees have matured to the point where the target species has been seen several times foraging in the restored sites.

Plantings of Box-Gum or Box-Ironbark tree species on the fertile lower slopes and valleys of our region will have the greatest chance of providing future habitat for this species.  Greening Australia recently concluded a project in the Wollondilly valley targeting Regent Honeyeater habitat restoration.  Current projects to restore habitat for Superb Parrots will also provide future benefits for Regent Honeyeaters plus a host of other threatened woodland birds. Unfortunately, the perilously low numbers of the Regent Honeyeater mean we need to take more urgent action while our tree plantings mature. 

Birdlife Australia has recognised the pressing and critical threat confronting the Regent Honeyeater. In the mid 1990s, when there was still an estimated population of around 1,500 in the wild, its Regent Honeyeater recovery team initiated a captive breeding and release program to save the species from extinction.  They aim to buy the bird time by arresting and reversing its fatal population decline. 

Have they been successful?  There have been ups and downs with releasing captive birds into the wild but, overall, the team remains optimistic that their strategy of boosting populations of Regent Honeyeaters in their core areas will give this beleaguered species a real boost.

Large scale habitat restoration programs and species recovery campaigns of the sort we see being implemented today were not well known or common while Gladstone was an active birder.  There can be little doubt that, had they been open to him, he would have been a strong advocate and active participant.

If You See a Regent Honeyeater

If you are fortunate enough to see a Regent Honeyeater the recovery team is very keen to hear from you.  Please report any sightings (ASAP) to: Dean Ingwersen, Regent Honeyeater National Coordinator:
•  Free Call 1800 621 056; or
•  Dean.Ingwersen@birdlife.org.au

References/Further Information

 "Saving the Regent Honeyeater: A Conservation and Management Guide Ingwersen, D., Roderick, M., and Mowat, E. (2019 BirdLife Australia, MelbourneE.
“The Regency Period”  Dean Ingwerson, Glen Johnson and Michael Shiels.  Australian Birdlife Vol8 No1 March 2019
“Australian Bird Names – A Complete Guide”  Ian Fraser E book edition.
“The Australian Bird Guide” Peter Menkhorst et al.  CSIRO Publishing
Birdlife Australia Birdlife Australia

The Gladstone Weatherstone Story and his Birds of the Month Available as PDF Files

A short biography of Gladstone Weatherstone is available here Download the 8 page PDF  Alternatively, you can request a copy by e mailing bobgunninghistoryblog@gmail.com;  You can also request Bird of the Month articles PDF files from the same address.

Thank You

Thank you to:

Nikki Taws of Greening Australia and Dr Tony Saunders of the Crookwell Native Flora and Fauna Club for reviewing a draft of this article and contributing helpful improvements.

John Weatherstone for providing a transcription of Gladstone’s Notebook.

Wayne and Cara Medway for access to their property to photograph Gladstone's Silky Oak.