Helmeted Honeyeater (Lichenostomus melanops cassidix) National Recovery Plan

Summary

The Helmeted Honeyeater (Lichenostomus melanops cassidix) population comprises about 20 breeding pairs and their recent offspring. Fourteen breeding pairs inhabit the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve with a small re-introduced colony of 23 individuals, including 6 breeding pairs, at a site in Bunyip State Park, 30 km south-east of Yellingbo. There are also currently 15 pairs held in captivity at two locations - Healesville Sanctuary, 18 km north of Yellingbo, and Taronga Zoo, Sydney.

The Helmeted Honeyeater is listed as Threatened in Schedule 2 of Victoria's Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and is listed as Endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The Helmeted Honeyeater is one of Victoria's best-known vertebrates, and has been a focus of the wildlife conservation movement in Victoria since the early 1900s. This long history of concern and conservation action has been summarised by numerous authors, most recently by Backhouse (1987), Smales et al. (1990) and Menkhorst and Middleton (1991).

This third recovery plan for the Helmeted Honeyeater continues the emphasis on population management, particularly the establishment of new colonies in unoccupied habitat, but also refocusses attention on some difficult habitat rehabilitation problems. Its development has benefited from two independent reviews of the recovery program, the first (Baker-Gabb 2002) instigated by the recovery team, the second (Barrett et al. 2005) commissioned by the Port Phillip and Western Port Catchment Management Authority.

This recovery plan complements and is supported by the management plans for the two conservation reserves in which the Helmeted Honeyeater now occurs (Parks Victoria 1998, 2004), and by the relevant Biodiversity Local Area Plan (Mitchell 2006).