Wildlife

Rare and endangered
The orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) is one of the world’s rarest and most endangered species, ranked alongside such animals as the Giant Panda and the Siberian Tiger. Fewer than 200 adult birds remain today.

Trans-state migration
The orange-bellied parrot is a migratory bird, which breeds only in coastal south-west Tasmania and spends the winter in coastal Victoria and South Australia. It nests in hollows in eucalypt trees which grow adjacent to its feeding plains of buttongrass.

The migration begins at the end of the breeding season in March or April and can take up to two months. The birds move gradually northward, up the west coast feeding on coastal grasses before making the arduous journey across Bass Strait to the Australian mainland. The return journey takes only a few days, with the birds arriving in the remote south-west of Tasmania in October.

Distinguishing features
The orange-bellied parrot is approximately 20 centimetres long, a little larger than a budgerigar. Its plumage is bright grass-green above and mostly yellow below with a bright orange patch in the centre of the lower belly. It has a bright azure blue patch on the outer-wing and a blue bar across the forehead above the nostrils. The orange-bellied parrot is also distinguishable by its harsh, buzzing alarm call.

Island sanctuary
The island sanctuary of Tasmania and its fox-free environment has prevented the orange-bellied parrot going the way of the dodo. European settlement caused a dramatic reduction in the habitats of the parrots on mainland Australia, where introduced predators such as the red fox and the feral house cat took their toll on the birds. Competition for food may also have increased because of introduced seed-eating birds, such as the house sparrow and European goldfinch. It is also likely that parrot diseases have added to the pressure on the population.

Protect and Recover
The Tasmanian, Victorian and South Australian state governments, together with the Commonwealth government and wildlife conservation bodies, have teams of specialists working on the a protection and recovery of this rare species. The aim of this effort is to reverse the population decline by increasing the number of breeding adults through improving juvenile survival.

For more information on the parrot and other threatened species, please see Parks and Wildlife Tasmania.