|
Care for Cardinia Creek |
The HELMETED HONEYEATER at Cardinia Creek | |
| HOME
Beaconsfield Flora and
Fauna Reserve
*Intro
to BFFR
*Location Maps Friends of Cardinia Creek Sanctuary Managing the
Beaconsfield Flora and Fauna Reserve
|
 The
Helmeted Honeyeater is a well known species of native bird, not because
it is commonly seen, but because it is critically endangered. The
Helmeted Honeyeater is one of the faunal emblems of Victoria (as well as
the Leadbeater's Possum, which is also endangered!) Once a resident of
the Cardinia Creek, this bird has battled extinction for many
years. Left: Helmeted Honeyeater with young. (Ian Smales/DNRE) The Helmeted Honeyeater, a subspecies of the Yellow-tufted Honeyeater, was once found throughout the Pakenham/Westernport area and around the mid- Yarra region. It lived in forests dominated by Mountain, Swamp and Manna Gums with a dense understorey of Scented Paperbark and Woolly Tea-tree. It would build nests in the dense shrubs and feed on insects, manna (sap) and nectar from the gum trees. It required its habitat to be intact, as it would not leave its territory to find food when rearing young. Males defeneded a territory of around one acre, with the female constructing a nest in July. Eggs were laid between mid-August and mid-January, with two fledglings per clutch (ie.two young) who would live in their parents territory for up to one year. A former local resident........the Helmeted Honeyeater once held pride of place on the top of the Coat of Arms of the City of Berwick, standing on top of a tree stump. Historical books proclaim that "the Berwick-Beaconsfield district should feel proud of the great distinction that has been conferred upon it by the possession of this ornothological gem." Its place on top of the tree stump in the Coat of Arms and the eventual local extinction of the species is a reminder of the impact of local development. After its discovery and description (by two separate people on the same day!) in 1867, it had disappeared from most of its range within 50 years. The reason for its decline was the draining of swamps and clearing of bush for farming, as was commonplace in the development of the local area. A zoologist from Monash University, J. Woinarski, studied the Helmeted Honeyeater at Cardinia Creek and wrote of egg-collecting by nature enthusiasts as another threat in the mid-1900's: "A large population occurred along the Cardinia Creek around Beaconsfield, and some early ornothologists optimistically predicted that the species would again become common and spread back through its former range. Unfortunately egg-collecting was then a popular hobby and the Helmeted Honeyeater was a prime target. These collectors wrote movingly of the bird's beauty and of its precarious future and, in the same sentence, of their successful egg-collecting." Cardinia Creek - National Zoological
Significance... By the late 1970's, surveys found only one small colony of Helmeted Honeyeaters living in an area of remnant vegetation the size of a football oval in Upper Beaconsfield. Woinarski stated that "from a population of 100 in 1947, only 10 birds remained in 1978"...."During the three months I watched this population the birds twice made nests and began breeding, but deserted both without producing young. Disturbance by cattle probably caused at least one nest failure as the cattle pushed paths through the swamp, and knocked down saplings directly under the nest. At other sites along the Cardinia Creek where Helmeted Honeyeaters had been seen as recently as 10-20 years ago, the paperbark swamp had been cleared or reduced to a few isolated old bushes, and the birds were no longer present." Woinarski nominated the Cardinia Creek to be listed on the National Estate as habitat for the nationally threatened species. This made the Cardinia Creek an area of National Zoological Significance. Woinarski also discussed the role of the Bell Miner, an aggressive, territorial bird common in bushland areas, as another threat to the Helmeted Honeyeater. The Bell Miner is common along the Cardinia Creek. The two birds are described as "mutually exclusive - there are either Bellbirds or Helmeted Honeyeaters present, but not both." Woinarski stated that the survival of the Helmeted Honeyeater relied on two factors: the creation of an ecosystem that favored the Honeyeater over the Bell Miner (with dominant, tall Manna Gums, Swamp Paperbark thickets and an overall healthy system with few lerps that the Miners feed on) as well as the exclusion of cattle from the area. The Ash Wednesday bushfires devestated the bushland along much of the northern Cardinia Creek on the 16th February, 1983. This event is believed to have killed many remaining individuals, and those who survived were unable to live for long with the desecrated surrounds. Today, the species still exists at the Yellingbo State Nature Reserve, with its own Friends Group to protect its habitat. It is part of a captive breeding program at Healesville Sanctuary, and individuals have recently been released in specially designed aviaries in Bunyip State Park. Work continues to further research and conserve the species. Sources: Woinarski, J (no date) 'The Helmeted Honeyeater', in The Westernport Catchment Resources Inventory Volume 2: An educational and community services project for the Westernport Awareness Program. Westernport Catchment Coordinating Group, 1980. Beaumont, N.E, Beaumont, J.P, Curran, J.F, Hughes, R.H, Milligan, J.P, and Milligan, J.R. (1979) (3rd Edition). The Early Days of Berwick and its surrounding districts of Beaconsfield, Upper Beaconsfield, Harkaway, Narre Warren and Narre Warren North. Impress Printing, Dandenong. |
Populations of the Helmeted Honeyeater
decreased rapidly. For many years, the bird was only known to exist in
small numbers at the Cardinia Creek (particularly in the northern
reaches) and at Yellingbo. A nature reserve was set up at Yellingbo in
1967 specifically to conserve the species.