Threatened orange-bellied parrots to hitch ride on plane in effort to save species

ABC Ballarat 

By Dominic Cansdale

Posted Fri at 9:36pm

One of Australia's most threatened bird species will be boarding a plane from Victoria to Tasmania's south-west wilderness next month in a desperate effort to save the animal from extinction.

There are only 30 to 50 orange-bellied parrots left in the wild, 10 of which have undergone final health checks at Werribee Open Range Zoo in Victoria ahead of their flight over the Bass Strait in October.

The zoo has been conducting health checks on the parrots throughout winter, with another six captive-bred birds to be released at the same time.

"They're quite critically endangered and at serious risk of extinction in the wild," zoo veterinarian Paul Eden said.

"Habitat loss is a major driver, particularly for their wintering grounds, so on the mainland a lot of habitat is being lost to development and agricultural land."

Introduced predators such as cats and foxes, along with disease, are also threatening the species' survival.

In the wild, the birds spend summer breeding in Tasmania, then spend winter in coastal Victoria and South Australia.

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Third female Orange-Bellied Parrot returns as federal Threatened Species Commissioner notes critical stage

DECEMBER 6 2017 - 3:30PM

Lucy Stone

A third female wild orange-bellied parrot has been reported at Melaleuca in the state’s South, nearing the end of the migration season.

The critically endangered parrot has been the focus of increasing concern as few females returned this season, but eggs are being laid in nestboxes with teams on the ground monitoring the bird’s progress.

Only 16 birds to date have returned from their annual migration to Victoria, including one captive-bred.

A statement posted by the Orange Bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program on social media said the third female, a juvenile born in March this year, had been spotted.

However the female, named RED RED Z for the identification bands on her legs, disappeared for nine months and was not identified on the mainland or in Tasmania. 

The program’s statement said RED RED Z was seen with “unusual” yellow flecked feathers across her back and wings. It’s not known what has caused the unusual colouring, whether disease or genetic issues.

“A member of the Orange-bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program has flown to Melaleuca to examine RED RED Z to assess her body condition, weight and general health,” the statement said.

Federal Threatened Species Commissioner Sebastian Lang said the recovery of the orange-bellied parrot was “a priority” for the federal government. 

Read on  

Oldest known orange-bellied parrot makes welcome return to Tasmanian breeding ground

By Rhiannon Shine

Updated Tue at 6:40am

Blue/black F, believed to be the oldest orange-bellied parrot in the wild, has defied the odds to make it back to Tasmania to breed.

The nine-year-old bird was hatched and raised in southern Tasmania, and has crossed Bass Strait about 20 times.

Each summer, the species migrates from the Victorian and South Australian coast to Melaleuca in south-west Tasmania to breed.

Last year's migration was the most dismal on record, with only 17 wild birds — 13 males and just four females — returning.

In some rare good news for the species, Blue/black F was recently spotted back at Melaleuca.

Consultant ornithologist Mark Holdsworth said he was surprised the bird had survived.

"He is in his 10th year, and that is getting right to the end of the oldest birds known to have lived in the wild," he said.

"It is really quite exciting that he has made it through for another year. Quite frankly, I was not expecting it."

Mr Holdsworth said the bird's average life expectancy was about three years.

Given the high casualty rate, researchers have taken to assigning birds non-affectionate names — such as Blue/black F — to avoid getting too attached.

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Scientists scale trees in desperate attempt to save orange-bellied parrot

Critically endangered bird – down to just 14 in the wild – not helped by being ‘morons’ with poor survival instincts

Calla Wahlquist

Wednesday 23 November 2016 04.07 GMT

Scientists are scaling trees in Tasmania in an attempt to save the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot after the wild population dropped to the “stupidly low numbers” of just 14 individuals.

Three of those wild-born birds are females that have begun the process of selecting nest boxes in Melaleuca, a blustery outpost in the wilderness world heritage area near the southwest tip of Tasmania.

In a crowdfunded last-ditch conservation effort, members of the Difficult Bird Research Group, so called because the birds they focus on are difficult to keep alive, will make the 100km flight from Hobart once a week during the nesting season to try to boost the survival rate.

The plan includes smuggling eggs laid in captivity into wild nests, tracking the impact of predators such as sugar gliders which eat the young, and, if necessary, hand-feeding the nestlings of negligent parents.

“There’s one wild female that, poor bugger, just hasn’t had any success,” Australian National University researcher Dr Dejan Stojanovic told Guardian Australia.

“If she stops feeding the kids for any reason, we are likely going to be climbing the trees every three hours and feeding the kids for her to get them to the stage where they can fly and actually chase her for food.”

It is a desperate final attempt to save a species that has been critically endangered for decades.

Despite regularly producing birds for release, longstanding captive breeding programs have not been able to boost dwindling numbers.

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Critically Endangered parrots killed by rats at breeding facility

Captive breeding efforts to save the Critically Endangered Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster - Australia’s rarest bird with perhaps as few as 50 individuals in the wild - have suffered a major setback.

Fourteen Orange-bellied Parrots were killed by rats during late 2015 at the Taroona (Hobart) captive-breeding facility, which is run by Tasmania's Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment.

The affected birds were being held separately in quarantine from the main breeding stock, as they were suffering from Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD). Following the killing of two parrots during October and November, in early December a more serious incident led to the death of the remaining birds. (In May 2013 two Orange-bellied Parrots in the same facility were killed by a cat that breached the perimeter fence.)

The Australian Federal Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, labelled the latest incident as "deeply disturbing", prompting Matthew Groom, Minister for Environment, Parks and Heritage for Tasmania to defend his government department: "The deaths of birds within the captive population has been taken seriously by the Tasmanian Government.” He stated that he has been assured that since the incident security standards at Taroona have been significantly enhanced.

Paul Sullivan, Chief Executive of BirdLife Australia commented: "These incidents clearly show the danger of allowing wild bird populations to decline until they rely on captive insurance programs. It’s tragic to lose any Orange-bellied Parrots; we need to learn from the incident and pull together to keep this bird from going extinct."

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Australian Endangered Species: Orange-Bellied Parrot (Op-Ed)

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

If you had to ask an average Australian the name of a threatened bird in this country, many would nominate the Orange-bellied Parrot. Critically endangered, and with fewer than 50 left in the wild, it is justifiably one of Australia’s most well-known endangered species.

Poor little creature. Every year the last birds remaining in the wild leave their breeding grounds at Melaleuca in the remote south-west wilderness of Tasmania to fly to the saltmarshes along the coastline of Victoria and South Australia. And each year hundreds of volunteers go out to count the birds and see how they are faring.

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Bad kitty breaks into wildlife facility, kills rare parrots

Orange-bellied parrots are among the world's most critically endangered birds, with fewer than 50 individuals still in existence in the forests of Australia. Although conservationists have been working tirelessly to boost their numbers through captive breeding programs, their progress was hindered recently by the taboo wanderings of one very naughty kitty.

According to wildlife officials, the unauthorized feline managed to breach the premises of a secured breeding center in Tasmania last month. Once inside, the bad cat then actually entered the parrots' enclosure through a small hole and began to terrorize the extremely rare birds.

In the resulting panic, two parrots died -- no small number considering just how few of these animals remain.

The bird-killing culprit may have remained a mystery if it weren't for the cat's poor planning. As it turns out, squeezing into the parrot's enclosure was easier than getting out; staff members actually discovered the problem pet two days later, still hiding inside with the birds.

Environment Minister Brian Wightman broke the news to the Australian Parliament yesterday, as reported by The Mercury.

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Encouraging breeding season for Critically Endangered Orange-bellied parrot

There are probably less than 100 wild Orange bellied parrots in existence. 

At least 23 fledglings counted in Tasmania

March 2013.  According to Mark Holdsworth, Tasmanian Recovery Program Coordinator for the Orange Bellied Parrot, volunteers at Melalueca, where the entire population of Orange-bellied parrots spend the winter, have spotted 4 unbanded juvenile parrots together at the feedtable. With 19 juveniles already banded , this means there are now at least 23 juvenile birds this season and possibly more. Considering there were 14 juveniles last year, this is very encouraging news for the species survival in the wild. 

Wild birds breeding
"The other news during the 2012 breeding season was encouraging, with all known adult females participating in breeding at Melaleuca and at least 14 young fledging. The team decided it wasn't necessary for any more wild birds to be taken into captivity this year as part of the Captive Breeding program."

Credit Chris Tzaros of Birds Australia

Captive breeding
"The successful captive breeding program, based at Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria, as well as at other facilities in Tasmania, NSW and South Australia, now has more than 200 birds and the team is considering the possibility of a release of captive-bred birds in the near future."

The Orange-bellied Parrot is a migratory bird, which breeds only in coastal south-west Tasmania and spends the winter in coastal Victoria and South Australia. 

The Orange-bellied Parrot National Recovery Team consists of representatives of the Commonwealth, Victorian, Tasmanian and South Australian governments, Zoos Victoria, Adelaide Zoo, Birdlife Australia, the Tasmanian Conservation Trust and threatened species experts.

To get the latest update, go to the Orange-bellied parrot Facebook page 

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/orange-parrot-breeding13.html

Critically Endangered Orange-bellied parrot mystery

The ‘Orange' Pimpernel? - Disappearing parrot intrigues recovery team

September 2012. With a wild population of less than 50, it's not surprising that the location of a summer hide-out used by a male Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) is of great interest to the team trying to save the species from extinction.

Credit Chris Tzaros of Birds Australia

Where does the bird go in the breeding season?
In its 2012 update, the Orange-bellied Parrot recovery team has revealed that an eight year old male bird, seen during Winter around Victoria's Port Phillip Bay, has not been seen for several seasons at the only known breeding site for the species at Melaleuca on Tasmania's west coast.

Recovery Team member Peter Menkhorst, from the Department of Sustainability and Environment's (DSE) Arthur Rylah Institute (ARI) said: "We have been aware of this bird since he was banded as a juvenile at Melaleuca in the summer of 2004/05 and he has been seen in Victoria over several winters, but we still don't know where he goes during the breeding season. With such small numbers in the wild it is of great interest to the recovery team to find out if there is another, previously unknown, site where this species breeds," Mr Menkhorst said.

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/orange-parrot-breeding.html

More information on the orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chysogaster):

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=1485