SEVENTEEN orange-bellied parrot chicks born at Taroona earlier this year have fledged.
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The young parrots will be raised in captivity for most of this year.
It is expected they will be released into the wild in Melaleuca, in the state's South-West, as part of a soft-release program, later this year.
A DPIPWE spokesman yesterday said the chicks were showing great signs.
"A release of captive-bred birds, should it occur, would be scheduled for late October, early November 2015," he said.
Close monitoring of the species would determine how many of the chicks would be released, however.
"A decision regarding the release cannot be made until the end of the current breeding season, following a reassessment of the genetic profile of the captive insurance population," the spokesman said.
"Hence there will be identification of birds that are not required for the captive breeding program, and so are available for release into the wild."
