Orange-bellied parrot update

[Jurek7]

Yes as I said by one very experienced aviculturalist who took 5 years to achieve his first success. I am not aware of any other captive breeding until the recovery program established a breeding program in the 1990's.

Either way, captive breeding was learned 20 years ago at least. Enough, for a fast breeding parrot, to have a captive insurance population in the thousands.

Now that made me laugh. You obviously don't know much if anything about the wild condition of the parrots. They migrate about 600km. The first quarter of the migration is across a wilderness, ie no walking tracks let alone roads, The second quarter is through a region with one north-south road servicing fewer than a dozen small settlements. The last half is across an open ocean with a couple of islands available for rest. Only one island has a settlement. Arriving on the mainland they disperse along a coastal strip a 1,000km long, much of which is not accessible by car.

Much, but not more difficult than follow a thrush all across the USA.

On the mainland, only part of the area has habitat used by the parrots. And it would become more easy to find, if birds had transmitters put on the breeding grounds, which would give away their location from >10km away.

Do you have any sources suggesting that introduced birds are a threat to orange-bellied parrots? As for predators you seem to be suggesting gunmen should be patrolling a 1000km of coast, shooting every hawk and falcon on sight. The birds evolved with predators, they are not the cause of their current predicament.

Birdlife official site, for a start:
Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) - BirdLife species factsheet
Conservation and Research Actions Proposed
(...)Control predators at mainland sites. Control feral cats at King Island site.(...)

I am beginning to understand why professionals don't engage with this site.

I appreciate your self-criticism. I, indeed, would very much welcome information from a professional.

 

[DDcorvus]

well, it would be better (and, one would assume, in the best interests of professional zoo people) if like here they did engage and answer/correct/educate critics. Otherwise the criticisms may just go in circles and incorrect/mistaken/outdated information will just be repeated over and over.

Not all of us have the freedom to do that, but that is a different debate. And going into a debate with people being totally ignorant can be very frustrating. And many professionals are already busy enough with our job. That being said giving correct information is needed sometimes.

On-topic. Yes only male orange-bellies got exported to Europe and according to my sources that were bred to Elegant females. There are mixed messaged if these hybrid lines are still around or not, but at least late 90s they still were. The people that were involved are not announcing this openly as the founders were smuggled to Europe, plus hybridisation is frowned upon especially with endangered birds.

All Neophema species are easy to work with. Blue-winged are readily available and cheap in Europe and might be husbandry-wise the closest to orange-bellies. At the same time the reason for this might be the same reason why Swift parrots are considered a beginners species in Europe, while in Australia the species is considered one only suitable for expert breeders. The climate in North-West Europe seems to suit both Blue-wings as Swifts quite well in spring and summer. This while a species like Scarlet-chested still breeds best indoors, where humidity can be regulated.

And from an external view the management of orange-bellied in captivity has made some odd mistakes. Mistakes that you do not expect from a professional programme. This said we as externals have no view on the internal dynamics, resources and which processes led to this.

Working with private breeders can in some ways and is more challenging in others. Many private breeders have no clue about disease management, have problems with following instructions of studbookkeepers and struggle with information management. So using private breeders as breeders only works with specific breeders. In other cases their contribution is more useful as fund-raisers or in a consultant-expert role.

 

[MRJ]

I appreciate your self-criticism. I, indeed, would very much welcome information from a professional.

Thank you for your gratuitous insult.

 

[MRJ]

On-topic. Yes only male orange-bellies got exported to Europe and according to my sources that were bred to Elegant females. There are mixed messaged if these hybrid lines are still around or not, but at least late 90s they still were. The people that were involved are not announcing this openly as the founders were smuggled to Europe, plus hybridisation is frowned upon especially with endangered birds.

Thank you for that information.

All Neophema species are easy to work with. Blue-winged are readily available and cheap in Europe and might be husbandry-wise the closest to orange-bellies.

The rock parrot would be the closest to the orange-bellied. While established captive populations of neophemas may all be easy to work with, the same cannot be said of wild sourced birds. This would be seen if we were to map things like time to establish the initial population, price, first colour mutation, number of mutations currently etc. So first were the arid species, scarlet-chested and Burkes (if you consider them a neophema) followed by grasslands and woodlands dwellers, turquoise, elegant and blue-wings, and lastly the coastal dwellers, rock and orange-bellied. It is only in the last decade or so that rock parrots have become regularly available in aviculture in this country. I am sure that with enough work and birds it would be possible to establish a strain of orange-bellied parrots that would breed well in captivity. But that is the problem, they would be a captive strain and may be totally unsuited to release into the wild.

At the same time the reason for this might be the same reason why Swift parrots are considered a beginners species in Europe, while in Australia the species is considered one only suitable for expert breeders. The climate in North-West Europe seems to suit both Blue-wings as Swifts quite well in spring and summer. This while a species like Scarlet-chested still breeds best indoors, where humidity can be regulated.

Actually swift parrots breed well in aviaries in their home state of Tasmania. It is only on the dryer, warmer mainland they have been difficult. Which all points to the importance of establishing breeding programs in-situ whenever possible.

And from an external view the management of orange-bellied in captivity has made some odd mistakes. Mistakes that you do not expect from a professional programme. This said we as externals have no view on the internal dynamics, resources and which processes led to this.

Not for me to comment on what has come before, I can only comment on what has happened since we became involved in the program in 2014.

Working with private breeders can in some ways and is more challenging in others. Many private breeders have no clue about disease management, have problems with following instructions of studbookkeepers and struggle with information management. So using private breeders as breeders only works with specific breeders. In other cases their contribution is more useful as fund-raisers or in a consultant-expert role.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[DDcorvus]

Thank you for that information.

I have to give some additional information. There are unconfirmed reports that pairs of orange-bellies arrived in Europe in the early 70s. Some pairs went to Netherlands to two Dutch breeders and 2 English ones. One of the Dutch had a close relation with the notorious Australian aviculturist Joe Mattinson. This breeder was also the destination of the Horned parakeets Joe Mattinson collected in New Caledonia and was not allowed to bring them back to Australia. The same breeder has also been one of the people that ensured golden-shouldered got established in Europe. The English breeders never bred orange-bellies but in the Netherlands 3 young fledged in 1971 and one young 1972. According to my information these lines died out shortly afterwards.

The rock parrot would be the closest to the orange-bellied. While established captive populations of neophemas may all be easy to work with, the same cannot be said of wild sourced birds. This would be seen if we were to map things like time to establish the initial population, price, first colour mutation, number of mutations currently etc. So first were the arid species, scarlet-chested and Burkes (if you consider them a neophema) followed by grasslands and woodlands dwellers, turquoise, elegant and blue-wings, and lastly the coastal dwellers, rock and orange-bellied. It is only in the last decade or so that rock parrots have become regularly available in aviculture in this country. I am sure that with enough work and birds it would be possible to establish a strain of orange-bellied parrots that would breed well in captivity. But that is the problem, they would be a captive strain and may be totally unsuited to release into the wild.

Even if bourkes got first established, in Europe the scarlet-chested was not considered established till the 80s. The species was expensive and considered delicate and a species better be housed indoors. Turquoisine and Elegants were actually established quickly after Bourkes so for outside Australia your trend doesn't seem to work out. The coastal dwellers were never exported in large quantities. The more colourful species were the one that were desired. Breeders of Australian parakeets had other species they chased like Cloncurry Parrots and Northern Rosella. Not many people were interested in species that were basically not very different from 2 species readily available. Even Blue-wings suffer from not being very different from Elegants as their popularity goes up and down. That being said any domesticated population of Orange-bellies would indeed be unsuitable for release, as we know now that domestication in parrots can go actually very fast.

 

[vogelcommando]

Future looks bleak.... :

Orange-bellied parrots, all but extinct, survive Tasmanian summer only to die migrating

 

[MRJ]

Future looks bleak.... :

Orange-bellied parrots, all but extinct, survive Tasmanian summer only to die migrating

Not as bleak as it has looked for the last 20 years.

The paper is by a media-savvy, publicity-hungry young researcher, who it must be said, has done some very good stuff, especially with swift parrots. What he is saying is that until we understand the cause of the decline recovery is unlikely, and we don't know that yet. As we say in Australia, no **** Sherlock. We have known that for 30 years.

What has changed in recent years is that the captive program now has over 500 birds, is genetically healthier than ever and is producing better breeding results than ever before. It is now capable of releases of up to 100 birds per annum. Recovery may be a way off but the OBP is not going extinct any time soon.

 

[vogelcommando]

Good to hear @MRJ, thanks for clearifying !

 

[vogelcommando]

Little ( positve ) update :

Orange-bellied parrot: best year in a decade for critically endangered bird

 

[vogelcommando]

Update about the last breeding-season :

Orange-bellied parrots leave Tasmania in biggest ever numbers for annual migration

 

[MRJ]

Early Friday morning Moonlit Sanctuary released twelve critically endangered orange-bellied parrots into the wild in the northern Western Port Bay region. The birds quickly formed into a flock then flew into nearby saltmarsh where they dropped to the ground presumably to feed. We could not have been happier.

The birds were bred at Moonlit Sanctuary and prepared for release by Moonlit Sanctuary staff who coordinated and ran the entire release. Personally I could not be prouder of the hard work and dedication of our staff.

The release was one of three conducted over the last week by the Mainland Release Program which is run in partnership between Moonlit Sanctuary, Zoos Victoria, and DELWP.

 

[MRJ]

Early Friday morning Moonlit Sanctuary released twelve critically endangered orange-bellied parrots into the wild in the northern Western Port Bay region.

Sorry that should be Thursday morning.

 

[boof]

This is so great. It must be an awesome feeling knowing you're contributing to the survival of a spieces. Thank you so much to you and your staff.

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

A good number of young birds released this season. Great work and fingers crossed they will make the migration and become breeders.

 

[vogelcommando]

Update about the species :

Big hopes for a little bird: Is the orange-bellied parrot coming back from the brink?

 

[MRJ]

Update about the species :

Big hopes for a little bird: Is the orange-bellied parrot coming back from the brink?

You can tell an election is coming when the politicians start to show an interest! Especially when the program is starting to show some success,

I've attached the latest Recovery Team news in case you are interested. The quoted figure of 70 birds is a minimum, in that birds have to be identified twice to be included. This is becoming more and more difficult as the numbers grow.

A couple of Moonlit milestones this year: we have now bred over 300 birds, of which 150 have been released.