Murder under the Microscope 2014 Online Tasks
Primary Quiz 3 Orange Bellied Parrot
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Mahogany glider at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mahogany_glider.jpg
By JJHarrison CC BY-SA 3.0
The orange bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) is critically endangered. There are,
however many people interested in saving the parrot.
The recovery program encompasses state and federal governments, private organisations
and volunteers. They have not given up hope, but most predictions are that these parrots
just slightly larger than a budgie will be extinct in the wild in the next three years.
In summer, a group of bird-watchers, scientists and volunteers make observations, band and
weigh fledglings, top up feeding trays and install nest boxes at Melaleuca near the banks of
Bathurst Harbour in rugged south-west Tasmanian button grass plains.
It is a World Heritage wilderness, so at least here the influence of humans is all good. They
hope that the parrot will have survived another winter on the South Australian and Victorian
coastlines and migrated back to the only known breeding area.
Efforts are continuing to ensure the wild population is well nourished both before and after
its over-wintering trips across the Strait in the hope of increased survival and breeding
success. Other volunteers spend hours in the hope that they can observe and identify birds
on the mainland but this task is made difficult because after arriving in Victoria they disperse
along the coast between Wilson’s Promontory and the Coorong. Their numbers concentrate
when they return to their partners in Melaleuca by November to breed. Northward
migration of adults occurs in February and the juveniles follow in March/April.
One way of helping the parrot species is to develop captive breeding populations. Seven
zoos and conservation areas are participating in the hope of building this captive population
to 350 by 2016. At Melaleuca, some fledglings are captured in the attempt to increase the
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Murder under the Microscope 2014 Online Tasks
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variety in the captive breeding populations and some birds bred in captivity are released
back into the wild.
There are many threats to this tiny population. On the mainland feral and domestic cats find
them easy prey. They have to compete with introduced seed-eaters such as sparrows.
 Their habitats include saltmarshes that have been burnt, grazed, cleared and
developed. If they cannot get enough to eat, their chances of successfully
navigating across wild Bass Strait down to the south west tip of Tasmania
and then breeding are greatly reduced.
 To make the situation worse, female birds released from the breeding
programs, do not seem to be too keen to breed. When the population gets
critically low an event such as illness or severe storm could wipe out the
entire wild population.
Only one other species of parrots is known to migrate. The other, slightly larger but also
endangered Swift Parrot also breeds and summer Tasmania but over-winters in more inland
forests on mainland Australia. It feeds on nectar, particularly from the Tasmanian blue gum
and nests in hollows of old tree trunks and branches.
video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3eiNNT9bQ4 2 ½ minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fEogZ8l6o8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nh27SCqJZM silly (but fun and informative)
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2010/05/worlds-only-migratory-parrots-in-peril/
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