Swift Parrot
Lathamus discolor
Psittacidae
Psittacidae
Critically endangered (Australian federal listing)
IUCN Red List
Image: Geoffrey Dabb/ Canberra Birds
Swift Parrots breed only in Tasmania and then fly across Bass Strait to forage on the flowering eucalypts in open box–ironbark forests of the Australian mainland. While on the mainland, they are nomadic, spending weeks or months at some sites and only a few hours at others, determined by the supply of nectar. [Birdlife Australia]
Go to https://pozible.com/project/operation-pko to donate
ABC
News, 18
October 2017:
The
parrots are nomadic and eat nectar, travelling in flocks to nest near flowering
eucalypts.
"This
year, all their food is on the east coast of Tasmania, and that area is full of
sugar gliders," Dr Stojanovic said.
"We're
very concerned that all the birds we bred on predator-free islands last year,
will end up nesting on the mainland in sugar glider habitat and be eaten."
With
the help of an electrician, Dr Stojanovic has designed "a
possum-keeper-outer" nest boxes, with a door to close behind the parrot
once darkness fell.
"Effectively,
it's just a little motor and a light sensor," he said.
"As
soon as it's daytime the sensor automatically detects that there's ambient
light and it will open to release the parrot to go about their business….
Dr
Stojanovic said previous research had shown the possums could eat parrots
"within a couple of days" of the bird laying its eggs.
"About
half of the female swift parrots that nest on the mainland of Tasmania each
year end up being eaten by sugar gliders," he said.
"It
can be a really severe rate of predation."
Dr
Stojanovic said the crowd-funding protection measures were needed due to
ongoing deforestation of the swift parrot habitat, by logging.
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