Orange-bellied Parrot
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| Neophema chrysogaster (Latham, 1790) |
The Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) is a small broad-tailed parrot endemic to Australia. It is grass-green above, and yellow below. The adult male has prominent, two-tone blue frontal band, a green-blue uppertail with yellow sides, and an orange patch on his belly.
This species has a very small population and, though numbers are stable or increasing at one intensively-managed breeding site in Tasmania, numbers continue to decline at outlying sites, and it is assumed to be declining overall. It is therefore listed on the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered. The current population is estimated at 180.
Orange-bellied Parrots only breed in south-west Tasmania. The entire population migrates over Bass Strait to spend the winter on the coast of south-eastern Australia. These few sites contain their favoured saltmarsh habitat, and includes sites in or close to Port Phillip such as Werribee Sewage Farm, the shores of Swan Bay, Swan Island, Lake Victoria and Mud Islands, as well as French Island in Western Port.
An interesting note is that the Woolnorth windfarm on Tasmania's North-West coast is operating with a license to kill up to 6 Orange-bellied Parrots every two years. In 2001, then Australian federal environment minister Robert Hill approved the wind farm, along the main migratory flight path for the parrot, with several conditions to protect migrating birds. To date no Orange-bellied Parrots have collided with the turbines.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2006). Neophema chrysogaster. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is critically endangered.
[edit] External links
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