Protection & Conservation of the Orange-Bellied Parrot(Neophema Chrysogaster)

Credit: birdlife.org.au

The Orange-Bellied Parrot is classified as Critically Endangered species and there is roughly 50 of the population and only recently believed to have slightly increase to 70 left in the wild with roughly 320 in captivity.

Native to Australia they are typically a coastal bird loving lagoons, bays, estuaries, coastal dunes and saltmarshes. The maps above highlight the Orang-Bellied Parrots distribution.

The Orange-Bellied Parrot is known to forage among flocks of Blue-Winged Parrots. They eat coastal plants, seeds, fruits & sedges. One of the biggest effects on food supply of the Orange-Bellied Parrot is bushfires, the fires will come through and wipe out critical food supply and habitat of the Orange-Bellied Parrot and other species along Australia’s East Coast. 

Not just the beak and feather disease virus appears as a threat as shown below but increase in predators and deadly weeds do appear as severe threats as well. One other detrimental factor is that there are few females as well but recently the numbers have increased.

Beak and feather disease virus(BFDV) has been detected in at least three wild Orange-Bellied Parrots, the disease attacks bone marrow and can result in the death of it’s host within several days making it highly deadly and a threat to the already critically endangered species, the disease is also highly contagious usually from feather and skin left in the environment from an infected bird can infect a healthy host.

The National recovery plan of Orange-Bellied Parrots founded in 2016 by the Department of Land, Water and Planning is a conservation plan and program that outlines an extensive recovery plan for the species with an 18 month emergency action plan. The plan aims at continuity of recovery activities for the critically endangered species. Studies have shown that low breeding participation by females between 2000-2010 have led to the decline of the species as well. Objectives are to increase the population to a stable population number within five years, to increase the captive population to ensure a stable future for the species both to be released into the wild and in captivity through breeding programs, to protect and properly maintain habitat to help support the wild populations growth.

Although unfortunately at this stage there isn’t much to say in terms of success of the program however the estimated number in the wild had risen from roughly 51 in 2020 within a year 70 and that’s roughly 36 females.

In regard to the future conservation plans for the species I believe that there is actually a lot of hope for the species especially due to the help of captive breeding. The breeding season is between November to December for the Orange-Bellied Parrot and if the population has risen by estimated 21 within a year I believe that the current plans in place to hold great hope of working. By releasing a stable number of roughly 10 females and 10 males around 1 year in age from captive breeding programs just before the breeding season into roughly 5 different saltmarshes and/or perfect habitat areas over the course of the next 3-5 years I believe will help increase the breeding population of the Orange-Bellied Parrot.

Bibliography:

birdlife.org.au

milestothewild.com

awe.gov.au

environment.nsw.gov.au

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

crookwellvet.com.au

wildlifevictoria.org.au

zoo.org.au

abc.net.au

australian .museum