By Jesse Graham
THE WORK of Yellingbo’s Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater will be able to continue with ease, with the men at Badger Creek’s Men Shed donating their time to repair and create equipment.
The team at the Men’s Shed, including president John Layton and vice-president Mario Herodotus worked with the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater (FOHH) to repair trapping boxes and create new carry boxes, to help their work with the critically-endangered animal.
Mr Layton and Mr Herodotus gave the 12 trapping boxes and six carry boxes to FOHH members Sue Tardif and Bob Anderson on Wednesday 9 November.
Ms Tardif said the trapping and carry boxes were essential for the group’s work, in tagging birds and taking them to receive veterinary care.
“We had two birds with injuries out in the wild, and these are our breeding birds and there’s only 23 to 25 breeding pairs at the moment, and those two birds … needed to be taken to the vet really quickly,” she said.
“If we don’t have these trapping boxes and transport boxes, we can’t do it and if we didn’t get them to the vet quickly, they would have died.
“It’s that critical.”
Mr Herodotus said the six carry boxes were made by hand at the shed, with the first box taking about 30 hours of work to perfect.
“The first one probably took us a week and a half, trying to figure out the sizes and all, but then I got the measurements off John’s original work and started the second box,” he said.
“By the time I made the sixth box, they were being made in about two days.
“It got better as I went along.”
The carry boxes stack onto one another and feature Velcro straps and rubber linings, to help protect the birds as they are being transported.
The men at the shed also repaired 12 trapping boxes, which are used with food to capture Helmeted Honeyeaters so they can be tagged, checked or transported.
“It’s brilliant,” Ms Tardif said.
“Seriously, we couldn’t do it without the help.”
FOHH president Bob Anderson said the boxes were an important part of the group’s maintenance works, and that they were delivered just in time for breeding season.
“The men’s shed was just the answer to our prayer,” he said.
