Once found inland of the Great Dividing Range from Brisbane to Adelaide, the regent honeyeater is no longer found in South Australia, records from Queensland are rare, and the remaining population in Victoria and NSW is patchy. Regent honeyeaters occur mainly in dry box-ironbark open-forest and woodland areas, particularly favouring those on the wettest, most fertile soils, such as along creek flats and broad river valleys. Expanding agricultural practices have seen the loss of approximately eighty-five percent of box-ironbark woodlands, a habitat once extensively distributed across inland Australia, but now unfortunately one of the most threatened ecosystems in the country.

The total known population of regent honeyeaters is estimated at between 800 and 2000, and 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.

Efforts to protect the regent honeyeater are being undertaken by a multi-agency working group, including the New South Wales and Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Services, Environment ACT, the Department of Sustainability and Environment (Victoria) and many bird and land conservation agencies, along with a number of Australian zoos.

Adelaide Zoo has held regent honeyeaters in its collection since 1998, and in this time have bred over fifty chicks. While the primary captive population is based at Taronga Zoo, Adelaide Zoo plays an important role in this recovery program. Although not an official member of the Regent Honeyeater Recovery Team, staff at Adelaide Zoo were approached to prepare the artificial incubation and hand-rearing component of the husbandry manual due to the unique expertise within the Adelaide Zoo Bird Department. A Regent Honeyeater Recovery Team meeting, hosted by Taronga Zoo in 2007, requested the captive population be increased for a planned reintroduction in autumn 2008. Since this meeting, Adelaide Zoo has established three pairs which have already produced eight chicks. Breeding will continue to meet program requirements, and Adelaide-bred birds will form part of the release population for later this year.

Thirty-two days following the release of the regent honeyeaters, twenty-two of the twenty-seven birds (82%) are still known to be alive, and are regularly observed. While nectar feeding from Ironbark blossom continues to be the main foraging activity observed, tree top insect hawking, and lerp gleaning (both from Grey Box) is increasingly recorded. The released birds established themselves into two main groups, and these groups appear to be relatively stable. At least four wild regent honeyeaters continue to actively integrate with one of the groups.

Update from Glen Johnson, Senior Flora and Fauna Officer, Department of Sustainability and Environment.

Twenty seven birds were released into Chiltern Pilot National Park on May 1 2008. Eighteen days following the release of the regent honeyeaters, twenty-six of these twenty-seven released birds are still known to be alive. The birds have formed into two independent flocks, and have been observed largely feeding on nectar of the Mugga Ironbark blossom and insects. A team of volunteers and agency staff monitor the birds through twice-daily radio-tracking fixes.

Update from Glen Johnson, Senior Flora and Fauna Officer, Department of Sustainability and Environment.