Orange-bellied parrot facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Orange-bellied parrot |
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| Male in South West Tasmania | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Neophema
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| Species: |
chrysogaster
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| Synonyms | |
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Euphema aurantia Gould, 1841 |
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The orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) is a small parrot found only in southern Australia. It is one of only three parrot species that migrate long distances. This bird was first described by John Latham in 1790.
This small parrot is about 20 cm (8 in) long. Male and female orange-bellied parrots look different, which is called sexual dimorphism. Adult males have bright grass-green upper parts, yellow underparts, and a bright orange patch on their belly. Adult females and young parrots are a duller green. All orange-bellied parrots have a noticeable two-toned blue band on their forehead and blue feathers on the outer parts of their wings.
Orange-bellied parrots breed in Tasmania. During winter, they fly to the coast of southern mainland Australia. There, they look for food in saltmarshes, on beaches, or among dune plants. They also eat seeds from various non-native plants. Their diet mainly consists of seeds and berries from small coastal grasses and shrubs.
This parrot is in great danger. As of early 2017, there were only 14 birds left in the wild. Because of this, it is listed as a critically endangered species. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has placed it on its Red List of Endangered species.
To help save the orange-bellied parrot, there is a special breeding program. These parrots are being bred in places like Taroona, Tasmania, Healesville Sanctuary, Adelaide Zoo, Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park, and Priam Parrot Breeding Centre. The goal is to have about 350 birds in captivity. In 2010–2011, 21 more birds were taken from the wild to join the breeding program. This helps make the captive population more diverse. This captive group is like an "insurance population" to prevent the species from disappearing completely.
Contents
About the Orange-bellied Parrot
What's in a Name?
The orange-bellied parrot was first described by a bird expert named John Latham in 1790. He called it Psittacus chrysogaster. The name chrysogaster comes from Ancient Greek words: chrysos means 'golden' and gaster means 'belly'. This perfectly describes the bird's golden-orange belly!
Later, in 1891, an Italian bird expert named Tommaso Salvadori created a new group of parrots called Neophema. He placed the orange-bellied parrot in this group, giving it its current scientific name. The orange-bellied parrot is one of six "grass parrots" in the Neophema group. It is closely related to the rock parrot.
"Orange-bellied parrot" is the official name for this bird. It was once called the 'orange-breasted parrot' because the word 'belly' was thought to be impolite in 1926!
How to Identify an Orange-bellied Parrot
The orange-bellied parrot is a small bird, about 20 cm (8 in) long. Adult males have bright green feathers on their head, neck, and upper body. Their chest, belly, and sides are yellow-green. The feathers on their cheeks and underparts are yellow-green with bright green tips. This makes them look brighter green when their feathers are new and more yellowish as they get older.
A key feature is the bright, two-toned blue band above their eyes. This band has a lighter blue border above and below a darker blue stripe. On their belly, males have an oval orange patch about 2 cm wide. Their tail feathers are green-blue with yellow sides. The feathers under their wings and their flight feathers are dark blue.
The female orange-bellied parrot looks a bit duller green. Her blue forehead band is also paler. Her orange belly patch is about 30% smaller and not as clear as the male's. Parrots shed their old feathers and grow new ones in late winter and early spring.
Young orange-bellied parrots are a duller green or yellow-olive color. Their blue forehead band is much less noticeable. Their beak is dull yellowish or orange, but it turns brownish-orange by the time they are three months old.
What Does an Orange-bellied Parrot Sound Like?
The most common sound an orange-bellied parrot makes is a single buzzing note. They repeat this sound every one to three seconds as a way to keep in touch with other parrots. They usually make this call while flying.
When they are scared, they make a quick, repeated tzeet sound that also has a buzzing quality. This happens if they are suddenly disturbed. When they are guarding feeding areas, they make a "gurgle-buzz" call. This call mixes alarm sounds with chattering and hissing. While eating, they might make soft, low-pitched chitting sounds.
Other parrots, like the blue-winged and elegant parrots, can look similar to the orange-bellied parrot. However, their alarm calls sound like tinkling bells, and their upper bodies are a lighter olive-green. Also, their blue forehead bands only have a light blue border on one side, which helps tell them apart.
Where Orange-bellied Parrots Live
The orange-bellied parrot is one of only three parrot species that migrate. It breeds only in southwestern Tasmania. They build their nests in eucalyptus trees near open areas of button grass.
The entire population flies across Bass Strait to spend the winter along the coast of southeastern Australia. On their journey, they might stop at King Island. On the mainland, they prefer coastal areas with saltmarsh habitats. These places include areas near Port Phillip, like the Werribee Sewage Farm, The Spit Nature Conservation Reserve, and the shores of Swan Bay. They also visit French Island in Western Port.
In late 2017, there was a possible sighting of an orange-bellied parrot in Canunda National Park in South Australia. The last confirmed sighting in that state was five years before, in Port MacDonnell.
Orange-bellied Parrot Life Cycle
Reproduction and Nesting
In the wild, orange-bellied parrots usually have one mate for life. If one bird dies, the other will find a new mate. However, in captivity, males can mate with several females. Pairs can form on the mainland before they migrate or after they arrive in Tasmania. Orange-bellied parrots can start breeding when they are one year old. The oldest known wild parrot, named blue/black F, is over nine years old. It is thought to have flown across Bass Strait 20 times!
They only breed in southwestern Tasmania, mostly within 20 km (12.427423844747 mi)* of Melaleuca. The breeding season is from November to February. The birds arrive at Melaleuca in early October and start looking for good nesting spots. They nest in hollows found in old trees, usually Smithton peppermint or swamp gum trees. The entrance to the nest is a hole about 6–10 cm (2+1⁄2–4 in) wide in a broken branch or trunk. The hollow inside can be up to 60 cm (24 in) deep. Since 1991, people have built nest boxes to give the parrots more places to nest.
The female parrot cleans out the hollow and lays her almost round white eggs on a layer of rotten wood. A group of eggs, called a clutch, usually has 3 to 6 eggs, with an average of 4.5. The eggs are about 21.6 mm by 18.1 mm and are laid every two days. If a nesting spot is successful, the pair will use it again. Some spots have been used for up to six years. The female often stays in the nest for several days before laying her eggs.
The female sits on the eggs to keep them warm for 21–24 days. During this time, the male flies up to 3 km (1.9 mi) away to find food for her. The eggs hatch one or two days apart. The young parrots are born helpless and blind, and they stay in the nest for a long time. At first, they are covered in soft, off-white down. The female stays in the nest for another 10 days, still being fed by the male. After that, both parents feed the young. By two weeks old, the bigger baby birds come to the nest entrance to be fed. The young birds learn to fly and leave the nest when they are 4–5 weeks old.
What Do Orange-bellied Parrots Eat?
Orange-bellied parrots are usually seen in pairs or small groups. They often stay on the ground or in low plants looking for food. They take turns eating and resting quietly. They start looking for food just before or after sunrise and rest in the middle of the morning.
During the breeding season, males are always looking for food to feed their mates while they are sitting on the eggs. Both parents do this to feed their young. Early in the breeding season, they prefer areas that were burned 7 to 15 years ago. Later in the season, they look for areas that were burned 3 to 5 years ago. Their most important food plants are Beaded Glasswort (Sarcocornia quinqueflora) and Shrubby Glasswort (Tecticornia arbuscula).
They also eat seeds from plants like coast fescue (Austrofestuca littoralis), saltbush (Atriplex cinerea), Austral seablite (Suaeda australis), and sea heath (Frankenia pauciflora). They also enjoy berries, such as those from Coprosma plants. Some reports even say they eat kelp.
At night, orange-bellied parrots usually sleep in trees or tall shrubs within 1 km (0.6 mi) of where they feed.
Saving the Orange-bellied Parrot
Why They Are Endangered
The orange-bellied parrot used to live in many more places. Outside of the breeding season, they were found along the mainland coast from Sydney to Adelaide. However, their living areas have shrunk because their habitat has been lost or damaged. For example, around 1889, they were seen in many places around Sydney. By 1967, they stopped visiting Port Fairy in Victoria regularly.
The orange-bellied parrot is now listed as critically endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List. This means they are at an extremely high risk of disappearing forever. In the 2016-17 breeding season, only 16 wild birds were confirmed: 13 males and 3 females. Thankfully, by April 2020, the wild population had grown to 118 birds.
In 2007, their status was changed from "endangered" to "critically endangered" under Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This shows how serious their situation is.
Recovery Programs
As of September 25, 2016, the Captive Breeding Program had 310 orange-bellied parrots.
In early 2011, 21 new "founder" birds were taken from the wild. These birds were important to improve the genetic variety of the captive parrots. They were sent to the main breeding centers: Taroona, Healesville Sanctuary, and Adelaide Zoo. There, they were paired with existing captive birds to introduce new genes into the population.
In May 2011, the news reported on 10 birds flown from Tasmania to Healesville Sanctuary near Melbourne. This was seen as a last chance to save the species. It was hoped that the new wild birds would improve the genes of the 80 birds at Healesville Sanctuary, which all came from only three pairs. Captive populations in Hobart and Adelaide are also important. The goal is to release parrots bred in captivity back into the wild.
By July 2012, it was announced that 19 of the 21 pairs with founder birds had laid eggs. Across all three centers, 31 young parrots had successfully flown from these new pairs.
The captive breeding program grew at the end of 2011. Priam Australia Pty Ltd., a parrot breeding center in New South Wales, received five pairs of orange-bellied parrots. In August 2012, Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park in Pearcedale, Victoria, received seven birds for display and possible breeding. In the same month, Halls Gap Zoo in western Victoria received five pairs for breeding. In 2016, Moonlit Sanctuary opened a special facility for 20 pairs. With several large and small breeding facilities, it is hoped the captive population will grow quickly.
Main Dangers to the Parrot
Experts have identified several threats to the orange-bellied parrot:
- Loss of Habitat: Their winter homes are shrinking and becoming less suitable.
- Competition: Other birds that eat seeds, especially those brought from other countries, compete for food.
- Nesting Problems: They might abandon their old breeding areas because of changes in fire patterns or competition for tree hollows from introduced birds like the common starling.
- Small Population: Because there are so few parrots, random events like bad weather or diseases can have a big impact.
- Disorientation: Bright lights from fishing boats can confuse them during their flights across Bass Strait.
- Predators: Animals that hunt them, especially those brought from other countries, are a danger.
- Diseases: Illnesses like psittacine circoviral disease can harm them.
Other dangers include:
- Lack of Safety in Numbers: Being a small bird, a tiny population makes them easy targets for bird predators.
- Trapping: In the past, they were caught for people to keep as pets.
- Stomach Virus: A stomach virus has threatened the breeding program.
A report from 2013 explained the reasons for the parrot's decline: "Current knowledge suggests that losing and damaging their habitat, especially in their non-breeding areas, has caused the decline. Not enough female parrots breeding has also been a problem recently (2000–2010). The species is also at risk from climate change. The small population size makes them more vulnerable to things like losing genetic diversity, inbreeding, unexpected environmental events, predators, competitors, diseases, and barriers that stop them from migrating."
Impact on Development Projects
The orange-bellied parrot even caused some debate with a politician in the 1990s! The Victorian premier, Jeff Kennett, was upset because a plan to move a chemical storage facility near Point Wilson, Victoria was put at risk. This was because the new location might harm the parrot's habitat. Mr. Kennett famously called the parrot a "trumped-up corella," meaning he thought it was an overhyped, common bird. This phrase was later used as the name for the Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team's newsletter.
The orange-bellied parrots were also considered when planning the Woolnorth Wind Farm on Tasmania's northwest coast. Experts studied how the wind farm might affect the birds. The wind farm is not directly in the parrots' flight path, but they do fly nearby. In 2001, the Australian environment minister approved the wind farm. So far, no orange-bellied parrots have been found to have crashed into the turbines. Monitoring continues, and efforts are made to keep the parrots away from the wind farm.
In 2006, the potential danger to the orange-bellied parrot was the main reason a proposal for the Bald Hills Wind Farm in eastern Victoria was first rejected. However, it was later found that there were no major risks to the species, and the decision was changed. The company was allowed to build the wind farm under certain conditions. The intense media attention at this time put the orange-bellied parrot in the spotlight. In the months that followed, more money was given to help the parrot's recovery, and its status was raised to "critically endangered."
Orange-bellied Parrots as Pets
The orange-bellied parrot was first successfully bred in captivity in 1973 by Fred Lewitska, a bird breeder in South Australia. He had tried for five years without success before that. He bred them again in 1974 but was then told to release the birds into the wild. He found that these parrots could become inactive in a cage and were likely to become overweight, similar to the related rock parrot. Len Robinson, a birdwatcher, artist, and photographer from Melbourne, also bred orange-bellied parrots between 1998 and 2006. He kept four pairs for eight breeding seasons and successfully raised 47 young parrots.
Images for kids
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Nesting boxes intended for use by orange-bellied parrots in Melaleuca, South West Tasmania
See also
In Spanish: Periquito ventrinaranja para niños
