A total of 58 Regent Honeyeaters have been released into the wild over the past week by the Regent Honeyeater Recovery team, making it the biggest release of this critically endangered species ever undertaken in NSW.
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At best estimates, there are just a few hundred Regent Honeyeaters left in the wild and the core of their population is now restricted to NSW.
"With the impact of bushfires and drought, captive breeding and release is one of most positive actions we can take for this species, which despite our best efforts is still on an extinction trajectory" said Dean Ingwersen, BirdLife Australia's Woodland Bird Program Manager and National Regent Honeyeater Recovery Coordinator.
This work is being coordinated by BirdLife Australia, the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, Taronga Zoo Conservation Society Australia, Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC) and other local stakeholders.
"To be able to do this on Wonnarua Country, is just incredible" Mr Ingwersen said.
The land where the birds were released is owned by Mindaribba LALC and BirdLife Australia has been working with the community implementing actions to help save the Regent Honeyeater. The release location contains key eucalypt species, along with an important mistletoe species, all of which combine to provide the birds a rich habitat.
"We're expecting one of the best flowering events in years on the site that we've chosen, and in the lead up to the release we've found several pairs of wild birds in the region too," said Mick Roderick, NSW Woodland Bird Program Manager.
All 58 of the released birds have been fitted with a combination of colour bands and about half have also had tiny radio transmitters attached to track their movements and survival over coming months.
The Regent Honeyeater Recovery Team has released a total of 373 birds into the wild across south-east Australia since 2000.
