For the first time in a decade more than 100 orange-bellied parrots have travelled from Tasmania’s south-west to their wintering grounds along the Victorian and South Australian coasts.
But the joy of researchers and volunteers at seeing a dramatic rise in the population of the critically-endangered species has been tempered by the restrictions placed on the movement of mainland birders who are critical to monitoring the parrots during the winter months.
All the same, such a large number of wild birds – 109 departed for the mainland between February and April – gives fresh hope that one of the most threatened birds in the world can be saved from extinction.
Each year the tiny parrots make the precarious journey along Tasmania’s West Coast and across Bass Strait before spreading out to feed in the saltmarsh along a coastal strip stretching from Melbourne to eastern South Australia.
They once flew in their thousands but in the past five years this number has fallen to the point that puts the viability of the wild population in doubt.
Just 23 birds arrived at the species’ breeding site at Melaleuca, deep in the Tasmanian World Heritage Wilderness Area, last spring. This number, though, was boosted by a complex captive-breeding and release program devised in the past few years when it emerged these beautiful birds were flying to extinction.
Wildlife biologist Shannon Troy heads the orange-bellied program for the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment and she says the parrot initiatives extend beyond Tasmania with work also being undertaken by a national recovery team.
The population of birds arriving in Melaleuca last spring was augmented by a further 34 adult birds released from captivity, including some from a breeding facility at Five Mile Beach outside Hobart. The adults from different backgrounds together produced 37 fledglings, and these were joined by another 49 captive-bred juveniles.
The migration each year takes its toll on such fragile birds – only 20 cm in length, about the size of a starling – and Dr Troy says she would be happy to see 40-to-50 parrots turning up in Melaleuca from September for the next round of breeding. At one point the number of orange-bellied parrots in the wild had slumped to just 17 birds.
Along with releases at Melaleuca, 26 birds have been released on two sites near Melbourne containing prime saltmarsh habit. It is hoped that travelling orange-bellied parrots, which are highly social birds, will see and hear the resident parrots and spend the winter feeding with them. Four of these formerly captive parrots have been fitted with satellite trackers, technology which might eventually be used to track the entire migration route of the parrots.
I know from personal experience the contribution that the volunteers play in monitoring the parrots, having in past years joined counts at Werribee conducted by Birdlife Australia. This year, however, like the other volunteers I had my wings clipped by the COVID-19 travel restrictions.