NSW Scientific Committee - final determination
The Scientific Committee has found that:
1. The Orange-bellied Parrot, Neophema chrysogaster (Latham 1790) (family Psittacidae) is an endemic Australian parrot, described by BirdLife International (2000) as follows: 'A slim parrot (length 22-25 cm), grass-green above and yellowish below. Adult male has a prominent, two-tone blue frontal band, green-blue uppertail with yellow sides that are conspicuous in flight, orange patch on belly. Adult female similar but slightly duller, orange patch slightly smaller and tail greener. Distinguished from Blue-winged Parrot N. chrysostoma and Elegant Parrot N. elegans by darker grass-green upperparts and narrow dark-blue leading edge to folded wing.'
2. The ecology of the Orange-bellied Parrot has been well studied. It is a coastal species inhabiting saltmarshes, sedgeplains, coastal dunes, pastures, shrublands and moorlands, generally within 10 km of the coast (OBPRT 1998). A single breeding population of fewer than 200 individuals occurs in a narrow coastal strip of south-west Tasmania between Birch's Inlet in Macquarie Harbour and Louisa Bay. Most pairs breed in the forested margins of coastal sedgeplains and in patches of eucalypt within moorland areas.
3. Adult birds depart Tasmania for Victoria in February and by April, have dispersed east as far as South Gippsland and west as far as Lake Alexandrina in South Australia (approximately 1000 km of coastline). Critical winter habitat for the species includes natural saltmarshes dominated by Sarcocornia quinqueflora (Beaded Glasswort) and Sclerostegia arbuscula (Shrubby Glasswort), as well as the associated grassy or weedy pastures. 'Coastal Saltmarsh in the NSW North Coast, Sydney Basin and South East Corner Bioregions' is listed as an Endangered Ecological Community under the Threatened Species Conservation Act. The winter distribution of Neophema chrysogaster is patchy, with up to 70% of the mainland population concentrated in three wintering sites around Port Phillip Bay and the Bellarine Peninsula (the Murtcaim Wildlife Area, Lake Connewarre and Swan Bay). In South Australia, the site most regularly used is Carpenter Rocks, south-west of Mt Gambier (Starks et al. 1992). The first adults begin leaving the mainland for Tasmania in September with the last birds having departed by November.
4. Historical records indicate that the Orange-bellied Parrot was formerly more abundant and widespread than it is now, ranging as far north as Sydney, NSW (McGill 1960). During the late 1800s and in the 1920s the species was widely reported as common or locally abundant in coastal south-eastern Australia, but has declined steadily since the 1920s. A small number of sightings of Orange-bellied Parrots are known from NSW. There is a specimen in the Macleay Museum which is thought to have been collected from Long Bay in Sydney in the 19th century, and another collected from Thredbo in 1917 now held at the CSIRO collection in Canberra (OBPRT 1998). More recently, a sighting was made near Nowra in 1986 and two consecutive sightings of a banded juvenile (possibly the same bird) were made in 2003, first in Shellharbour, south of Wollongong, and again at Maroubra, south of Sydney (Starks 2004). These sightings indicate that the species' distribution continues to extend into south-eastern NSW where suitable habitat is still available.
5. While there are concerns that the summer breeding population may be declining (Tzaros pers. comm.), the number of individuals located during summer remains at between 140 and 200 over the last decade, and outside of NSW, the range of the species has remained constant (OBPRT 1998). By contrast, the number of Orange-bellied Parrots reported on the mainland has been declining since 1991, with as few as 20 individuals seen in 2003 (Starks 2004). It appears that Orange-bellied Parrots may be departing from their traditional winter feeding grounds and dispersing among Blue-winged Parrots into remote under-surveyed regions of Victoria and South Australia, or into coastal regions of southern NSW (Starks 2004).
6. The species is listed as an Endangered species in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, and is also listed as Critically Endangered under the Commonwealth Environmental Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
7. Factors threatening the survival of the Orange-bellied Parrot include: destruction of their winter feeding habitat due to the clearing of native vegetation, urban development of coastal areas and sea level rise associated with climate change; fragmentation of their winter population into small, disjunct groups which face an increased risk of extinction; competition for resources from introduced bird species; stochastic factors such as disease; loss of genetic variation and predation pressure from introduced carnivores such as cats and foxes (OBPRT 1998). 'Anthropogenic Climate Change', 'Infection by Psittacine Circoviral (beak and feather) Disease affecting endangered psittacine species and populations', 'Predation by the European Red Fox Vulpes vulpes' and 'Predation by the Feral Cat Felis catus' are listed as Key Threatening Processes under the Threatened Species Conservation Act.
8. The Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster (Latham 1790), is eligible to be listed as a critically endangered species as, in the opinion of the Scientific Committee, it is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in NSW in the immediate future as determined in accordance with the following criteria as prescribed by the Threatened Species Conservation Regulation 2002:
Clause 16
The estimated total number of mature individuals of the species is:
(a) very low,
and:
(e) the following conditions apply:
(i) the population or habitat is observed or inferred to be severely fragmented;
(ii) all or nearly all mature individuals are observed or inferred to occur within a small number of populations or locations
Clause 17
The total number of mature individuals of the species is observed, estimated or inferred to be:
(a) extremely low.
Professor Lesley Hughes
Chairperson
Scientific Committee
Proposed Gazettal date: 07/09/07
Exhibition period: 07/09/07 - 02/11/07
References:
BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International (Barcelona and Cambridge: UK)
McGill AR (1960) Parrots of the genus Neophema in New South Wales. Emu 60: 40-61.
OBPRT (1998) Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Plan 1998-2002. Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Team. Parks and Wildlife Service, Hobart. Accessed January 2007
Starks J, Brown PB, Loyn RH, Menkhorst P (1992) Twelve years of winter counts of the Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster. Australian Bird Watcher 14 (8): 305-312.
Starks J (2004) Where have all the Orange-bellied Parrots gone? Wingspan 14 (2): 26-27.