CRITICALLY endangered birds nesting in the Bunyip State Park forest survived the Black Saturday bushfires.
The US Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team, on assignment in Victoria, recently found that the fire stopped just 300 metres from an occupied helmeted honeyeater habitat.
The team met DSE employee Sharon Ryeland and Tonimbuk resident and volunteer Mike Harrison, who led them to feeding stations in a thick stand of tea tree along Diamond Creek where they observed nearly a dozen of the rare birds.