Singing Teachers for Honeyeaters

Scientists have rescued the lost song of the critically endangered regent honeyeater—one of Australia’s rarest birds.

Regent honeyeaters (Anthochaera phrygia) were once seen in vast flocks across southeastern Australia, with a distribution that ranged from Queensland to Kangaroo Island in South Australia.

But the songbirds have experienced significant population declines in recent decades and are now mostly confined to the Blue Mountains area. As the species’ numbers have diminished—now down to fewer than 250 in the wild—so has the complexity of its song.

The typical song for the Blue Mountains birds has virtually disappeared from the wild, replaced by a simpler version containing half the number of syllables—with potential impacts on reproductive success.