Seven birds rescued by an Army helicopter from the Victorian bushfires have been returned home to their habitat in far East Gippsland.

Key points: Seven bristlebirds rescued from East Gippsland during bushfires earlier this year return to their habitat

Seven bristlebirds rescued from East Gippsland during bushfires earlier this year return to their habitat Zoos Victoria says the mission has helped it prepare for similar animal extractions in future

Zoos Victoria says the mission has helped it prepare for similar animal extractions in future Plans to monitor the returned birds had to be altered in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

A daring mission in February saw a team of scientists and wildlife officials airlift 15 endangered bristlebirds from Howe Flat, near Mallacoota, to act as an insurance population in case the rest perished in the fires.

Sadly, six of the birds died after arriving in Melbourne, succumbing to a common fungal infection.

"It's a fungus that exists throughout the environment and it can make animals sick when they become stressed," Dr Katherine Selwood said.

"It's a bit like when we get stressed, we can fall sick."

Twelve of the endangered birds were extracted from East Gippsland during the bushfires. ( Supplied: Darryl Whitaker/DELWP )

Dr Selwood, senior threatened species biologist at Zoos Victoria, said two of the birds remained in care.

"The rest of the birds have been monitored really closely by vets, and they've been given an absolute clean bill of health," she said.

"We certainly wouldn't be letting them back out into the wild if we had any concerns with them; we're very confident with the ones that have gone back home."

COVID-19 complicates return mission

Monash University ecologist Rohan Clarke was a member of February's rescue team, but the coronavirus pandemic meant he could not make the return journey.

"It's been a bit of a rollercoaster, but also really exciting to be involved to get them out safely, and to get them back in this manner has been a pretty impressive team effort," he said.

The returned bristlebirds are in good health. ( Supplied: Darryl Whitaker/DELWP )

While the bristlebirds were kept safe at Melbourne Zoo, the team had weekly meetings to discuss how to get them back home.

"The bigger-scale plan was that we were going to radio-track some of the birds; we would have had a small team in there for a couple of weeks of intense monitoring, but with the current pandemic, that had to modified," Dr Clarke said.

"What we've done now is the lean end of monitoring.

"All the birds that were released are wearing a metal band with a unique number on it, and on the other leg they've got another tiny band which is uniquely coloured.

"So each of the birds has their own colour, so if we sight them in the future, we know which bird it is.

"The goal is, once COVID-19 settles down, we'll go back in and more intensively [monitor] those birds, to understand if they're still about, if they're still in the areas where we let them go ... or if they've moved somewhere else at Howe Flat."

Scientists from Monash University, Zoos Victoria, DELWP and Parks Victoria worked together. ( Supplied: Darryl Whitaker/DELWP )

Dr Selwood said the mission had helped Zoos Victoria prepare for future wildlife extractions.

"We basically couldn't have chosen a further point from Melbourne Zoo to collect animals from the wild; it was always going to be a challenge," she said.

"Now that we've been able to achieve this, we feel like we're well-equipped for the next time this happens, because no doubt it's going to happen sometime, somewhere again."