Posted Sun
at 8:06am
When
Leslie Kelly heard an unusual bird call in her western Sydney garden, it was a
delightful surprise to find it coming from a critically endangered bird
released hundreds of kilometres away.
Key
points:
Three
hundred birds have been part of the regent honeyeater captive release program,
but researchers are still unsure of the path the birds are taking
Bird
'backpacks' with satellite tracking tech weighing just two grams are about to
be deployed
Researchers
needed to wait for transmitter technology to develop to fit a bird which weighs
between 35 to 50 grams
The
sighting of a male regent honeyeater earlier this month, nestled among backyard
grevillea and callistemon at Oxley Park, is another promising sign of recovery
for the species being closely watched following
a captive release program in north-east Victoria.
A photo
of the Oxley Park bird capturing banding on its legs shows it had travelled at
least 463 kilometres since its 2017 release in the Chiltern-Mount Pilot
National Park.
This bird
now boasts the fourth longest movement recorded for the captive release
program, of which over 300 birds have been part of.
But
researchers are still unsure of the path these small birds are taking to achieve
such long journeys.
No comments:
Post a Comment