Lichenostomus melanops cassidix 

Critically Endangered, the Helmeted Honeyeater remains in only two small wild populations in remnant streamside swamp forest east of Melbourne. Since 1989, a recovery team has made intensive efforts to secure these populations and since 2001, Zoos Victoria staff and other dedicated team members have worked to maintain a captive colony and instigate a release program. With initial releases successfully establishing a wild colony, further action and research will take place to secure and increase the population.

The Program Focus

The program’s primary purpose is to increase the number of Helmeted Honeyeaters in the wild and reduce the threats to the wild population so that they become self-sustaining into the future.

The Conservation Issue

The Helmeted Honeyeater, Victoria's State Faunal emblem, is under threat and is vulnerable to extinction as it occurs in an area of less than10 km2 and is confined to only one locality.

The core factors thought to be responsible for the decline of the Helmeted Honeyeater, as outlined in its Recovery Plan are:

• The impact of colonies of Bell Miners close to Helmeted Honeyeater territories, which decrease breeding success and reduce habitat availability and quality
• A shortage of high-quality breeding territories in close proximity to existing colonies
• Rapidly spreading dieback (tree decline) at one major colony site due to changes to the hydrology of Cockatoo Creek within the reserve

The small numbers of Helmeted Honeyeaters and limited distribution make it vulnerable to a catastrophic event. Wildfire and dieback of eucalypts remain the most potentially destructive threat and could wipe out the entire wild population.

Zoos Victoria’s Conservation Field Partners

Several organisations and community groups are members of the Helmeted Honeyeater Recovery Team. Each Recovery Team member brings particular expertise to the recovery effort, ranging from captive breeding, habitat management and predator control to education and research.

Recovery Team members include:

Department of Sustainability and Environment 
Parks Victoria
University of Melbourne     
Latrobe University
Bird Observers Club of Australia
Birds Australia
Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater

The Program Plan

The program aims to conserve the Helmeted Honeyeater through the following activities:

1. Effectively administer the recovery effort to ensure that Recovery Plan objectives are met.
2. Attain a wild population of at least 200 mature individuals spread between at least two self-sustaining sub-populations, at least one of which is in a separate water catchment to the Cockatoo-Woori Yallock Creek system.
3. Maintain and enhance the value of Helmeted Honeyeater habitat in Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve and strategically throughout the former range, by active participation in the land-use planning process and by encouraging community involvement.
4. Maintain the captive colony of Helmeted Honeyeaters at a size which will provide adequate stock to:
   a. provide insurance against the demise of the wild population;
   b. support release to establish new wild colonies and for trials of novel release strategies;
   c. constantly improve captive breeding and husbandry techniques;
   d. maintain 95% of the wild heterozygosity in the captive population.
5. Maintain the genetic diversity and evolutionary potential of the Helmeted Honeyeater.

Zoos Victoria's Role

Zoos Victoria's key roles are to: 

1. Supplement in situ populations through captive breeding for reintroduction.
2. In the event that the wild population continues to decline, maintain an insurance population in captivity.

Zoos Victoria has been involved in the captive breeding of Helmeted Honeyeaters since the Recovery Program began in 1989, and is continuing this commitment. In addition, Zoos Victoria staff are involved in the translocation and reintroduction of captive-bred birds to the wild and monitoring their survival after release.

Reports and Publications

Helmeted Honeyeater Recovery Plan 1999–2003