Before the fires… Australia will take 100 YEARS to recover from bush fires as experts say smoke from blaze to be seen all over the world. The birds were raised in Taronga Zoo's specialised Sydney facilities, where the regent honeyeater …

Australia fires animals: five endangered species under threat, from the glossy black cockatoo to the Kangaroo Island dunnart By Serina Sandhu Tuesday, 14th January 2020, 10:38 am

Nicola Stow; ... the regent honeyeater bird and the western ground parrot. It is commonly considered a flagship species within its range, with the efforts going into its conservation having positive effects on many other species that share its habitat. Today the Regent Honeyeater has become a 'flagship species' for conservation in the threatened box-ironbark forests of Victoria and NSW on which it depends.. The Regent Honeyeater is a medium-sized honeyeater, about 23 cm long and weighs 31–50 g as an adult (with males generally larger and heavier). Adult plumage is predominantly black with bright yellow edges to the tail and wing feathers, while the body feathers (except for the head and neck) are broadly edged in pale yellow or white. The Regent Honeyeater breeds in individual pairs or, sometimes, in loose colonies, with the female incubating the eggs and both sexes feeding the young.
The regent honeyeater (Anthochaera phrygia) is a critically endangered bird endemic to southeastern Australia.
"The fires over summer have further impacted the breeding and foraging habitat of regent honeyeaters, making this release and ongoing conservation breeding even more important." Birds are also found in drier coastal woodlands and forests in some years. Experts fear fires throughout NSW have destroyed habitat in several key parts of the state occupied by the critically endangered regent honeyeater. The Regent Honeyeater, with its brilliant flashes of yellow embroidery, was once seen overhead in flocks of hundreds. A yellow flash no more. As fires rage across Australia, fears grow for rare species.

Regent honeyeater. Recent genetic research suggests it is closely related to the wattlebirds.

By John Pickrell Dec. 17, 2019 , 5:40 PM. The cup-shaped nest is thickly constructed from bark, lined with soft material, and is placed in a tree fork 1 m to 20 m from the ground.

The Regent Honeyeater mainly inhabits temperate woodlands and open forests of the inland slopes of south-east Australia.