The critically endangered bird that's losing their own song.
A bird in Australia has become so rare, that they are now losing the ability to sing their own song.
This bird is called the Regent Honeyeater.
The Recent Honeyeater is critically endangered today. These beautiful birds, that look a bit like a Starling, only have a very small population today - the population of the Regent Honeyeater is estimated to be between 350 and 400 individual birds.
Other estimates have their population below 250 individual birds.
Sadly, their population is also decreasing.
The recent Australian bushfires of 2019/20 haven't helped this beautiful bird, as, they were one of the many animals that were affected by the Australian bushfires. BirdLife International named the Regent Honeyeater as the bird in Australia which was most affected by the Australian bushfires; Regent Honeyeaters were affected by the Australian bushfires due to things like habitat loss.
It seems that habitat loss was already a major problem for Regent Honeyeaters, as the last assessment of this bird estimated that about 75% of the Regent Honeyeaters habitat has been destroyed. Their habitat is forests and savannas.
The Loss Of Their Song
The discovery of the Regent Honeyeater losing their song has been published in a recent journal. The journal is called 'Loss of vocal culture and fitness costs in a critically endangered songbird'.
They found that 27% of songs which were sung by the male Regent Honeyeaters differed from their regional norm song. Worryingly, they also found that there was also Regent Honeyeaters that were not learning their species song at all, and were instead learning the songs of other species.
Losing their ability to sing their own song is sad; it also has other detrimental affects which could potentially further harm this critically endangered bird. It was found that the birds who sung 'atypical' songs were less fit and were less likely to becoming nesting birds than the birds who sung regional songs.
As these birds have a very low population today, it's worrying that their change, or even disappearance in their song, could affect their nesting, as if less of these birds nest, it will inevitably affect the population of these birds in the future.
Why Are They Losing Their Song?
The researchers found that the birds were losing their song and the ability to learn their song because there has been a significant decline in the birds population.
Regent Honeyeaters have seen a significant decline in their population and their habitat, with fewer Regent Honeyeaters, it makes it harder for them to learn their own song and this could likely further contribute to this birds decline.
The research found that 12% of Regent Honeyeaters have already lost their song.
If you want to read the full research behind these findings, please go - here.
Comments