Juvenile survival of world’s rarest parrot more than halves

New research shows one of the world's rarest birds, the orange-bellied parrot, remains at severe risk of extinction despite decades of intensive conservation work in their Tasmanian breeding range. Although conservation efforts have increased the breeding success of parrots in the wild, 80 per cent of juveniles born in their sole breeding ground in Tasmania die on migration and over winter. Researchers at The Australian National University used data collected by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment to study survival of orange-bellied parrots over 22 years. "Our results are very worrying," lead author Dr Dejan Stojanovic said. "We found that over time, survival of juvenile parrots has dropped from 51 per cent in 1995 to only 20 per cent in recent years." Dr Shannon Troy, study co-author and lead wildlife biologist for the DPIPWE Orange-bellied Parrot Tasmanian Program said: "Although more orange-bellied parrots are born into the wild as a result of recovery efforts in Tasmania, these benefits are reduced by threats during migration and winter that are unidentified and unaddressed." There is uncertainty about what threats the parrots face during migration and winter. It is suspected the arduous flight over the Bass Strait between Tasmania and the Australian mainland takes a severe toll on inexperienced juveniles on their first migration. This is exacerbated by the small population size reducing flock size.