Members Day for the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater starts at midday at the Rangers house, 1217 Macclesfield Road, Yellingbo. We will start with a BYO picnic or BBQ lunch, followed by a talk, the unveiling of a memorial plaque for one of our volunteers who passed away late last year and the planting of habitat plants in her memory.Not a member but would like to attend? You can join on the day!
Our guest speaker, Karina Cartwright is the Senior Keeper of Threatened Species at Healesville Sanctuary. She will update us on the Helmeted Honeyeater’s captive breeding program. Karina has provided the following brief introduction.
The captive breeding program for Helmeted Honeyeaters at Healesville Sanctuary began in 1989. Today the Sanctuary holds 13 pair of Helmeted Honeyeaters in purpose built aviaries, each aviary housing a single pair of birds. Two pair of Yellow Tufted Honeyeaters are also held for use as foster parents. Each year the majority of Helmeted Honeyeaters bred at the Sanctuary are released between the two sites of Yellingbo and Tonimbuk. Occasionally some birds are retained at the Sanctuary for use as breeders in the captive population. Fledgling birds are released at the end of each breeding season (around April) after spending three days in acclimatisation aviaries at the release sites. Throughout the breeding season eggs and nestlings are also moved between the Sanctuary and wild nests as required. This happens for a number of reasons:
1. If a wild nest is abandoned the eggs/nestlings can be fostered into a captive nest or placed into an incubator and hand raised or fostered after hatching
2. If the age of a captive and wild nest are within a few days age of each other eggs/nestlings can be fostered from captive to wild nests. This is a preferable form of ‘release to the wild’ of captive birds as they are then raised and socialised in a wild situation.
All welcome.Image: Karina & the Friends at our last Members Day
Photograph by: S. Tardif
