The fight to save the orange-bellied parrot has suffered a setback with a drop in the number of the migratory species returning to Tasmania this breeding season.
Total figures released by Birdlife Australia at the end of summer show that only 86 parrots arrived at the Melaleuca breeding site in the far south-west of the state, six birds less than the previous year.
This, though, remains an improvement on the critical year of 2016 when only 17 parrots came back from their traditional wintering grounds along the Victorian and eastern South Australian coast.
According to Birdlife Australia, the returning birds included 53 males and 33 females, counted by staff of the Tasmanian Department of Natural Resources and Environment, which manages the conservation efforts at Melaleuca, along with volunteers from the national birding organisation.
Birdlife Australia said it was deeply concerned about the drop in number, even if it appeared slight. They were hoping that a captive-breeding program with releases of birds at both Melaleuca in the spring and in Victoria during the winter would boost the population.
The latest tally comes at a time when conservationists are still grappling with the news late last year that a vast windfarm project for Robbins Island at the far north-western tip of Tasmania had been given the go-ahead by the federal government.
The island is a vital staging post for the tiny parrots as they make their way along the West Coast before attempting the crossing of Bass Strait. The island is also surrounded by a wetland supporting up to 30,000 waterfowl and shorebirds. Two of the shorebirds, the eastern curlew and curlew sandpiper, are critically endangered.
The windfarm development, with 100-turbines, has been fiercely opposed by wildlife groups.
The Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt, when he confirmed the project’s approval, said the decision included strict conditions to ensure the project would be constructed and operated with safeguards to protect threatened species.
The government has placed 88 conditions on the project, including a requirement for a “bird and bat plan” that could require the wind farm to shut down to avoid impacts, Mr Watt said.
There were also safeguards for the isolated Tasmanian devil population on the island which is free of facial tumour disease. The proposal would require a bridge for construction and maintenance purposes.
The use of Robbins Island by migrating parrots has been confirmed by the satellite tracking of birds which, according to bird ecologist Eric Woehler, shows “extensive overlap” of bird movements with the proposed layout of the wind farm.
The project’s proponent, ACEN Australia, says its own research showed there was no clear evidence the parrots used areas where the towers are to be located.
ACEN successfully overturned In the Supreme Court in 2023 an environmental condition which required the turbines to be shut down five months of the year.