Each spring Tasmanians hold a collective breath, waiting to see how many of orange-bellied parrots return to their breeding grounds from the mainland.
The good news this season is that more – 22 – have come back to Melaleuca in the far south-west than last year.
Although the number is small what is significant is the females of the species have led the way. And this has given the biologists charged with trying to ensure the tiny parrots’ survival a unique challenge – they are having to play cupid. Extra males are being released from captive-bred stock to provide the resilient females with mates.
Another item of positive news is captive-born juveniles released at Melaleuca last summer have learned the flight path to and from the wintering grounds on the mainland and have returned to the parrots’ home territory.
In recent years I have flown to Melaleuca to witness myself the tremendous efforts being made by Tasmanian Government conservation officers to try to save the critically endangered species. This year knee surgery ruled out a trip so my update comes from an interview the head of the orange-bellied parrot team, Shannon Troy, gave to the ABC at the remote location.
Dr Troy said the return of 22 birds was higher than expected – only 16 returned last year – and the relative abundance of females had been a surprise.
“We had a week where every return was female and I started looking at the number of captive birds we were releasing and realised we were going to have females out there without boyfriends,” Dr Troy said.
“We released some extra captive males that had been quarantined just to make sure every female we knew was alive had a partner.”
The 22 returned birds comprise both wild-born and captive-born birds, and together they make up the species’ wild population.
The program has released 34 captive birds to help boost this number, including some birds born in the wild that were caught and held over winter to keep them safe. They won’t get their “wild” credentials until they complete a migration.
As I have seen at Melaleuca, a close watch has to be kept on the breeding parrots because they are prone to being taken by either tiger snakes raiding nest boxes or birds of prey. But the biggest loss of the population happens during migration.
The budgie-sized parrots leave Melaleuca in autumn and fly across Bass Strait via King Island to spend winter in coastal Victoria. The older adults return first, followed by the less experienced juveniles.
Dr Troy said the most positive update was the high number of captive-bred and released juveniles that had returned.
“We’ve seen four of those come back and we only released 12,” she said.
While that might not sound like a lot, it was a high return rate and proves that captive-bred birds – which have in the past not had good migration rates – can make the journey.