A regent honeyeater recovery project in the North East has ticked a major box with confirmation of successful breeding in the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park.
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The chick, named Lucky, from eggs laid in mid-September, left the nest on October 13.
“It actually had a sibling in the nest and the day of fledging a magpie came and grabbed the sibling," DELWP senior biodiversity officer Glen Johnson said.
About 80 birds, bred at Taronga Zoo, were released into the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park in mid-April. It was the fourth, and largest, release since 2008.
“Can captive bred birds survive in the wild? Tick,” Mr Johnson said.
"Can they successfully mate and produce young and recruit into the wild? We say yes.
The release and monitoring program is a collaboration involving several organisations, including the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, BirdLife Australia, Landcare and Monash University.
