WHEN the release into the wild of 13 birds bred in captivity sets a record for boosting the number of a species, it gives an insight into how dire things had become.
At its worst, the population of the critically endangered Helmeted Honeyeaters — Victoria's bird emblem — dipped to fewer than 60.
The release from a park aviary yesterday of a flock of immature birds at Bunyip State Park lifted the number to 113.
For government field ornithologist Bruce Quin, who freed the birds with volunteers dedicated to the species' survival, it was a red-letter day.
The fledgling birds, aged up to eight months, were reared through a breeding program at Healesville Sanctuary and Sydney's Taronga Conservation Society Australia to prevent extinction.
"It's a special time for us — so much work is going into slowly getting them back," Mr Quin said.
For a while, he feared it wouldn't happen. Dozens of young honeyeaters were rushed from Healesville to Melbourne Zoo when the sanctuary was under threat during the February bushfires.
The Black Saturday blaze in the Bunyip State Park also burned within about 200 metres of the local honeyeater colony at the most vulnerable time, during breeding season.