The 2016 national Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater searches were on the weekends of May 14th-15th

and August 6th-7th, although results for these search weekends included birds found for a week either side

of those dates. As with previous years the searches were conducted across Victoria, NSW, ACT and

Queensland, and were conducted at a time when both species move across the mainland in search of food.

There was a great turn out by volunteers during both survey periods, which was fantastic! Our regional

coordinator program was also strong, with these coordinators doing a great job of recruiting and

coordinating volunteers within their local assigned region, and following up any sighting information. This

was a great way to get more people involved with the surveys and engaged in the overall project. Thank you

again to all the coordinators who helped out in 2016, your input and local knowledge were greatly

appreciated.

Swift Parrots

Similar to previous years, Swift Parrot numbers were greater in August compared to May. Overall numbers

for 2016 (1,976 birds) were greater than 2015 (913 birds) and more comparable to previous seasons (2013

and 2014; see graph below), which indicates fluctuations in numbers over time. These overall numbers

include incidental sightings, but exclude potential multiple counts in the same location within the same

survey year. We acknowledge that there is still risk of double counting using the current survey methods;

however these methods are consistent across years and can be used to investigate changes over time. In

2016 we had some valuable apiarist advice from the Victorian Apiarists' Association, which helped us to

target areas of flowering trees; this is something we will utilise again for future surveys. With the great

turnout of volunteers for both survey rounds, we were able to cover a lot of ground and search many

potential feeding areas for Swift Parrots across their range.

Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater Update from 2016 surveys

Dean Ingwersen, Mick Roderick & Caroline Wilson

Images: Pam Bradsworth

The number of Swift Parrots recorded each year from 2013 to 2016 (dotted line), and the total

number of surveys carried out each year (solid line). These data include incidental records outside

the survey periods, but exclude multiple records in the same location within a survey year.

Victoria

Not including incidental sightings, there were 19 positive Swift Parrot records during the August 2016 survey

period (including a week either side), which is a similar number to the May 2016 survey round (18 positive

records). These August records were spread across the west, central/north-west, central, and north-east of

Victoria, which corresponded with apiarist’s advice on the best spots for flowering.

As with the May 2016, there were a greater number of records (incidental sightings) outside of the August

2016 survey weekend, leading up to and after the survey period. When including incidental sightings, nearly

half of the records (44%) for August 2016 were from central/north-west and western Victoria, 28% were

from north-east Victoria, 21% in Greater Melbourne, 5% in the central south and 2% in Gippsland. Records

were fairly spread out across central/north-west and western Victoria, though there were a cluster of

sightings within Tunstall's Nature Conservation Reserve, south-east of St Arnaud. Similar to the May 2016

Swift Parrot record in Douglas, there were two far west sightings in August at Mt Arapiles Tooan State Park

(west of Horsham and 65km from the South Australia border). This is the furthest west Swift Parrots have

been seen in a number of years, and locals attributed it to a break in the drought which resulted in some

moderate flowering in the area. All of the north-east Victoria records were in Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park.

Records in Greater Melbourne were in the usual locations of north-east Melbourne (e.g. Greensborough and

Lower Plenty) and Sunbury, but there were a couple of surprise records to the north and north-west in

Maribyrnong and Roxburgh Park, where there have been few previous Swift Parrot sightings. Again similar to

the May 2016 survey, there were fewer Greater Melbourne records in August compared to previous years.

The Central South records were in Werribee and Serendip Sanctuary in Lara and the single Gippsland record

was in Cowes on Phillip Island. The Phillip Island record was the furthest south-eastern record in Victoria for

August, whereas they were located as far south-east as Raymond Island in May (see map below). Compared

to previous years, there were no birds as far south-east as Marlo and Mallacoota, and there were fewer

Gippsland sightings in 2016 across both survey rounds. The largest group of birds was 140 birds at Tunstall's

Nature Conservation Reserve in early August and another 100 in the same spot later in the season in early

September. There were two somewhat late records of Swift Parrots in the year, with a small group at the

Northern Metropolitan Golf Course, Glenroy in late October and a single bird at the Woodlands Estate,

Ocean Grove in early November.

Distribution map of Swift Parrots from the May and August 2016 surveys (including incidental sightings).

In August, Swift Parrots were recorded feeding on Yellow Gum blossom, as well as flowering Ironbark

(mostly in Chiltern), White Box and Golden Wattle, and they were recorded gleaning the leaves of Grey Box

for lerp (mostly at Tunstall's Nature Conservation Reserve).

NSW, ACT & QLD

The August survey period in NSW differed from the May surveys in that there was a distinct lack of Swift

Parrots recorded from one of the two key Spotted Gum regions: the Far South Coast. This area had produced

a number of Swift Parrots during the May surveys, but the last report from that region came from early July

when 40 birds were seen near Little Lagoon, Mimosa Rocks NP (as mentioned in the last update). This was

despite that fact that observers were actively searching for Swift Parrots during August. This supports the

view expressed by apiarists on the south coast that the Spotted Gum blossom appeared wane early in the

season. Records continued in the Lower Hunter Valley, though the count of 133 birds found on the Singleton

Training Area on the 30th June was never topped (see image below).

Swift Parrots (part of the group of 133 birds) at the Singleton Training Area NSW on the 30th

of

June 2016 (taken by Mick Roderick).

The first reports in NSW during the August reporting period were of small counts of birds in the Hunter

Economic Zone (HEZ) near Kurri Kurri. Reports of Swift Parrots continued to trickle in from observers in HEZ

right through until the final NSW record, which was of 2 birds on the 12th September. Swift Parrots were

reported consistently from early May until this date, mostly of small numbers of birds (generally <10). This

further consolidates HEZ as one of the most important sites for Swift Parrots on the mainland; an

assessment expressed by Debbie Saunders (former Swift Parrot survey coordinator) back in 2002 and

BirdLife Australia in assessments undertaken in 2013. Elsewhere in the Lower Hunter, 25 birds were reported

from private property at Quorrobolong during the survey period, with numbers peaking at this site with “at

least 40 birds” recorded late in August. Smaller groups were also reported from Pelton, Seaham and further

west in the Hunter Valley near Warkworth. The vast majority of Hunter Valley records were of birds feeding

in Spotted Gum blossom or ‘lerping’ on trees adjacent to Spotted Gum blossom.

Reports of small numbers of birds also came from the Sydney area, with sightings logged at Londonderry,

Mulgoa Nature Reserve and Kurrajong. No follow-up reports were noted from these sites. The highest count

in the greater Sydney region was of 25 birds at Camden airport on the 25th August. These birds were initially

located during a Cumberland Bird Observers Club outing on the 20th August and were seen feeding in the

foliage of Rough-barked Apple trees. Small numbers were also reported from Corrimal, on the northern

beaches of Wollongong.

West of the Great Divide, reports of small numbers came during targeted surveys for Swift Parrots on the

survey weekend in two areas; around Gunnedah (Black Jack State Forest and Porcupine Reserve; see image

below) and the Coonoor turnoff on the Bundarra-Woodsreef Road ironbark patch. Each of these reports was

of less than 5 birds. The northernmost report for 2016 was of 10 birds seen in flight on the banks of the

Gwydir River, 10 km south-east of Bingara. This means that once again, no birds were found in Queensland.

A Swift Parrot spotted at Black Jack State Forest near Gunnedah NSW (on the 30th

of July) and

the White Box habitat it was recorded in (taken by Denise Kane).

Elsewhere, a report of 25 birds in the Capertee Valley arrived on the 5th September. These birds were

feeding in and near White Box blossom. A week later the same observer estimated that there were “at least

70 birds”. This is one of the highest counts in the Capertee Valley in many years. As mentioned above, the

last report was of 2 birds in HEZ on the 12th September; a rather early finish to the Swift Parrot reporting

season in NSW.

Regent Honeyeaters

The slow start to 2016 improved a little in the lead up to the August surveys for Regent Honeyeaters, but

over the search weekend few were found. As mentioned in the May 2016 update, the unbanded female

Regent Honeyeater from 2015 had returned to Lake Cathie on the north coast of NSW. This bird was not

recorded during the August surveys, though was present until the last week of July. For a period of several

weeks, this was the only wild bird reported within NSW. This was a curious situation, given that the Spotted

Gum was flowering in the Lower Hunter Valley, albeit not as heavily as had occurred during the past two

flowering events in 2009 and 2012, when significant numbers of Regent Honeyeaters (>50 and >100

respectively) were found in the region. In 2016 just two separate Regent Honeyeater records were reported

from the Lower Hunter region: 2 birds were seen in a front yard in Kearsley, adjacent to Werakata National

Park (interestingly enough, by a vet that works at Taronga Zoo and handles Regent Honeyeaters), and late in

the year two adults and a dependent juvenile were seen foraging in a Silky Oak grevillea at Poppethead Park

in Kitchener. This sighting was particularly significant as it was the first confirmed breeding by the species in

the Lower Hunter valley since the large breeding event in the Hunter Economic Zone in 2007-08.

Adult male Regent Honeyeater seen with female and juvenile at Poppethead Park, Kitchener in

November 2016 (image by Shelly Zvingulis).

With a paucity of reports coming out of the heavily flowering Hunter Valley, there was cause for us to

wonder where the Regent Honeyeaters were spending their 2016 winter. There were a sprinkling of other

records – two birds in Anstead Bushland Reserve near Brisbane in late May, and a handful of birds in north-

east Victoria which included returning captive bred birds released in 2015. Some strong Mugga Ironbark was

noted from the Barraba area during winter surveys there, but no birds were located in the August search

period in this region.

During August birds started turning up in the Capertee Valley, filtering through in small groups. Over spring

up to 50 birds were found by Ross Crates (ANU PhD student) and others, predominantly in the Capertee

National Park. It should be noted though that in troubling news much of the Needle-leaf Mistletoe has been

observed dying back in other parts of the Capertee Valley along the river, noted especially during the spring

surveys undertaken by BirdLife southern NSW, Cumberland Bird Observers Club and Birding NSW. This was

somewhat disappointing to BirdLife Australia project staff, who had worked hard with the NSW National

Parks and Wildlife Service, Central Tablelands LLS and other authorities to remove Noisy Miners from known

nesting sites in these parts of the valley (Noisy Miners are known to interfere with breeding by Regent

Honeyeaters).

Further to this, in September the Australian National University found 20 birds across the New England

Tablelands. Follow up monitoring of those birds revealed multiple nesting attempts over the following

months, but unfortunately all failed to produce any fledglings. Regardless, it was great to see good numbers

of birds back in northern NSW. Late in the year birds were also located by birders and ANU within and

around the Goulburn River NP, including on adjacent offset land owned by Rio Tinto. Again these birds bred,

but this time a small number of juveniles fledged out of the nests present.

In another important result there were a number of resightings of 2015 captive release birds (from Chiltern-

Mt Pilot National Park in Victoria). In total seven of the 2015 release cohort were resighted over the year,

with several of these sightings including ex-captive birds in association with ‘wild’, unbanded Regents. This is

important as it once again shows that the released birds are able to assimilate with the wild population. The

majority of these returning birds were located back within the national park, but there were two sightings

further afield. The first of these was a bird which turned up briefly on a property near Albury early in the

year, with the landholder getting a great photo to allow identification of the leg bands. But the most exciting

result of the released birds came later in the year.

We were contacted by a landholder who had a honeyeater wearing bands visiting planted Callistemon at

their house. They took some phone photos and sent them through, and also gave a perfect band reading. It

turned out to be ‘Yellow-Yellow’ from the 2015 release. But the truly amazing bit was that they were in

Outtrim in South Gippsland, 270km south of the release site! Further to that...as recently as July 30 this year

he had been in Chiltern again (see map and images below). This sighting significantly improved the record

for a long-distance movement of a captive-released bird, which previously held by 2010 White-White which

travelled to Holbrook NSW, 100km from Chiltern.

2015 released bird ‘Yellow Yellow’ (left; image by landholder), and a track of the distance between

sightings in July and November (right).

How to get involved

The dates for the Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater searches in 2017 are the third weekend in May (20th –

21st) and the first weekend in August (5th – 6th). We will be looking for volunteers to help search for both

species across Victoria, ACT, NSW and Queensland during this time. Also, if you are interested in being a

regional coordinator, please let us know (contact details below). We are currently in the process of mapping

all of the suggested survey locations, particularly for the wide-ranging Swift Parrot, to help ease the

workload for coordinators and help volunteers locate important survey areas.

If you would like to submit a sighting or would like more information about the surveys see:

http://birdlife.org.au/projects/woodland-birds-for-biodiversity or contact Dean Ingwersen (Regent

Honeyeaters), Mick Roderick (Swift Parrots NSW, ACT and Qld) or Caroline Wilson (Swift Parrots VIC) via

email at: woodlandbirds@birdlife.org.au.

Finally, another captive release is being undertaken in Chiltern-Mt Pilot NP this year. This will be the largest

release to date, with Taronga on track to deliver well above the 77 birds released in 2015. But again we will

require lots of volunteer assistance to help with the post-release monitoring. There will be opportunities for

radio tracking, colour band reading, data entry...and the experience of watching large flocks of Regent

Honeyeaters wheeling around the Chiltern skyline. If this sounds like something you would like to get

involved in please get in touch with us above, or email the releases Project Officer Liz Wemyss:

Elizabeth.Wemyss@delwp.vic.gov.au.

Please let us know your email address if you would prefer to receive electronic copies of this report.