I missed out on seeing the arrival of the endangered swift parrots this spring because I was away on holiday in Britain. Instead I looked for them in the stuffed and mounted bird collection at the Natural History Museum in London. Thankfully, the world’s fastest parrot was not there, an indication it is not quite at the stage of being classed beyond saving.
Each year when the parrots turn up in a favoured clump of blue gums on Mt Nelson I am filled with dread that this could be the last time I see them at that location, and in fact see them in the wild at all.
The swift parrot population is in freefall and the very last place I would want to see them is among the extinct or near-extinct species in the museum.
Without such an Australian addition the display is depressing enough. The highlight is the symbol of extinction, the dodo of Mauritius.
Strangely the paradise parrot – believed to be the first and only extinct Australian mainland species – is also not on display. Although last seen nearly 100 years ago in New South Wales the parrot has never been officially listed as extinct. It still appears in some of the field guides of Australian birds, in the hope that it might one day turn up. Perhaps the curators of the bird collection in the natural history museum have that hope, too.
This is not totally beyond possibility. Another Australian species, the night parrot, had not been seen since 1912 before being rediscovered in 1979.
I’m not optimistic about the survival of the paradise parrot. In Its former range incorporating the grassy woodland on the NSW/Queensland border it would be noticed, unlike in the sparsely populated outback, the night parrot’s home.
If there is a lesson in the paradise parrot’s demise, it is we must act quickly once birds become scarce. If only we could turn back the clock and take note that clearance of the parrot’s habitat would in part lead to extinction. Ironically, the parrot was also a victim of its stunning beauty, which made it a target for the caged bird trade.
The warning signs are plainly apparent for the swift parrot, down to a mere 700 birds. It has been impacted by logging and to a lesser degree, predation by sugar gliders. In Tasmania, a second parrot is also critically endangered, the orange-bellied parrot.
The paradise parrot had also once flown in its thousands before it vanished from view. It was allowed to decline without any thought at least being given to establishing a captive breeding population to ensure its survival as a species at least.
On that score, the endangered swift and orange-bellied parrots can be seen in zoos but that is a poor substitute for viewing them in the wild. A bit like viewing extinct birds in museums.