According to a report received from Narooma News Online in July, birdwatchers in New South Wales, Australia, have reported the arrival of up to 30% of the total population of the highly endangered Swift Parrot in forests on the Far South Coast.

This small green parrot is among the most endangered in the country, with less than a thousand breeding pairs remaining. The species migrates annually between Tasmania and southeastern Australia, but has dramatically declined in numbers – mainly because of habitat disturbance.

Robyn Kesby, a National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger, said that anyone who knows anything about this rare species is very excited to hear that these parrots have arrived in such numbers.

“Seeing one would be a real treat,” she says, “but local bird group, the Far South Coast Birdwatchers, and experts from Birds Australia, have reported seeing as many as 350 in one group at Corunna State Forest, south of Narooma, and another group of 200 at Nelsons Beach in Mimosa Rocks National Park.”

Chris Tzaros from Birds Australia said that there was some concern earlier when Swift Parrots were not appearing at their more regular locations this season.

“I think that it is likely the serious drought conditions which have impacted on their favoured locations, such as the box-ironbark woodlands of central Victoria and the inland slopes of the divide in NSW, combined with favourable flowering in coastal spotted gum forests, is why we are seeing them in such numbers on the Far South Coast.”

Because it is so rare, the Swift Parrot is the focus of intensive efforts to reverse its decline. A National Recovery Program – assisted by volunteers – is under way in New South Wales,  Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, assisted by volunteers, who are helping to conduct national surveys twice a year to track the movement of the Swift Parrots across the landscape.

www.naroomanewsonline.com.au

Swift Parrot on Display

Two weeks later, the Swift Parrot was in the news again when the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Swift Parrot had gone on show in a Tasmanian zoo for the first time.

Tasmania Zoo, near Launceston, has been given 15 Swift Parrots by a breeder from Hobart to take part in a breeding program.

The zoo’s owner, Dick Warren, says it’s a great coup for any wildlife park. “It’s been on the endangered list for a long time and they’re getting very rare,” he said. “We’ve been fighting for six years to get the Swift Parrot and to have a breeding program.”  Permits have, however, finally been issued, and the zoo has had to build a special enclosure for the birds.

www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/31/2642349.htm