Scientists seek public help to protect endangered parrot

If we don't act immediately, the expected mortality rates in unprotected nest boxes could erase the gains we made last year when swift parrots nested on a predator free island. Scientists from ANU have launched a new crowdfunding campaign to help protect the critically endangered swift parrot from sugar gliders. New research predicts swift parrots will flock to Tasmania after their migration in the coming weeks to nest on the state's east coast, which is this year's richest food location, but is also a hotspot for predatory sugar gliders. Dr Dejan Stojanovic from the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society said nesting attempts in some parts of the east coast have not produced a single nestling swift parrot since monitoring began because of the severity of sugar glider predation. ANU and the National Environmental Science Program have joined forces to ask the public to help fund nest boxes to save the iconic parrot. "If we don't act immediately, the expected mortality rates in unprotected nest boxes could erase the gains we made last year when swift parrots nested on a predator free island," Dr Stojanovic said. In 2015 the public donated $75,000 to the ANU Difficult Birds Research Group crowdfunding campaign to trial the deployment of nest boxes as a recovery tool for swift parrots, which are critically endangered due to sugar glider predation.