Media release – Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Wednesday 20 January 2021
Another milestone in Orange-bellied Parrot conservation efforts
DPIPWE’s Orange-bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program has reached another milestone in the conservation of the critically endangered species.
Wildlife biologists counted 88 live nestlings across 27 nests at Melaleuca this breeding season, including seven nestlings in two nests at New Harbour, 5km from the Melaleuca breeding site.
“This is the highest number of nestlings that has been recorded at Melaleuca since the nest box monitoring began in 1994, and there are some eggs still to hatch,” wildlife biologist Dr Shannon Troy said.
“It is also encouraging to see the average clutch size (eggs laid) and brood size (eggs hatched) for individual nests are higher than they have been since 2014 so we are hopeful there will be a record number of fledglings in the wild this season.”
During recent nest checks, wildlife biologists from DPIPWE and The Australian National University Difficult Birds Research Group found a total of 136 eggs laid in 31 nests, with 97 eggs hatched.
“The nests at New Harbour are an exciting discovery as this is the first orange-bellied parrot (OBP) breeding record at New Harbour since nest boxes were installed a decade ago, and the first sign of a range expansion of the breeding population since recovery efforts began in the 1980s,” Dr Troy said.
DPIPWE released captive-bred adults in spring 2018 and 2019 to try to expand the Melaleuca breeding population to include New Harbour.
The trials may have been more successful than they appeared at the time or the high density of orange-bellied oarrots at Melaleuca at the start of the breeding season (76 birds) may have prompted OBPs to move to new areas for breeding. DPIPWE will continue to monitor to learn more.
“This is an important milestone in the long-term recovery effort for this species,” Dr Troy said.
“We will keep working with our partners, learning from lessons and building upon successes to give the breeding population every chance to continue growing and dispersing.”
DPIPWE, supported by captive breeding partners on the mainland and volunteers, has done significant work to help the OBP survive in the wild.
Key activities to support the species include: increasing nesting opportunities through provision of additional nest boxes at Melaleuca to the current total of 91; increasing the number of breeding pairs through the release of captive birds each spring since 2013; providing supplementary seed to promote survival and breeding participation, along with planned burning to provide natural food and foraging opportunities; and the release of captive juveniles at Melaleuca each autumn since 2018 to increase the size of the migrating flock.
The Orange-bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program has also had a successful breeding season at the purpose-built $2.5 million Five Mile Beach captive facility, with 79 fledgling, 40 nestlings, and eggs still to hatch, and a second round of breeding under way.
DPIPWE will release up to 50 juveniles at Melaleuca from late January. The juveniles, bred at the Five Mile Beach facility and Moonlit Sanctuary captive facility in Victoria, have undergone health screening and will join the wild-born fledglings in the northern migration at the end of the season.
Featured image: orange-bellied parrot by Ron Knight (Sussexbirder – Flickr), Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).