Tag Archives: parrots

New Zealand kakapo parrot problems

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This video says about itself:

Ben Taylor – Conservation volunteer from the UK

Ben Taylor’s story, volunteering with the Kakapo recovery program on Whenua Hou (Codfish island), New Zealand.

From Wildlife Extra:

Cold & wet spring kills hopes for kakapo breeding season

Poor rimu fruit harvest means just a few kakapo will nest this season

December 2012. Kakapo Recovery programme manager Deidre Vercoe Scott said indications from earlier in the year suggested a reasonable rimu fruit supply on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island this summer.

“We’ve spent the past few months preparing for up to 15 nests on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island, but the latest data from the island suggests we may be looking at only several nests this season. It is most likely that the record cold, wet Southland spring had stopped the rimu fruit – which female kakapo feed to their chicks – from developing. It is thought female kakapo use the availability of the fruit as a cue for breeding,” she said.

67% decline in fruit abundance

“Our rimu fruit count last month shows there has been a 67 percent decline in fruit abundance since it was last counted in February. Compare that to the 38 percent we lost after the big September snow in 2010 and it’s obvious the fruit has been hit hard.”

As a result, plans to recruit volunteers to mind the nests had been cancelled, Ms Vercoe Scott said.

“Luckily, all is not lost. There are some trees with good supplies and, if they’re located in a female’s home range, we’d still expect some nesting to occur.”

Supplementary food pellets

Part of the work being carried out by Kakapo Recovery involves trialling supplementary food pellets that scientists hope will be accepted by female kakapo, as an alternative to rimu, to feed their chicks. Several volunteers including workers from New Zealand Aluminium Smelters and Forest and Bird, key partners in Kakapo Recovery, would be assisting with the supplementary food trials this season, she said.

April 2013. Hopes for a successful breeding season for kakapo on Anchor Island were dashed prior to Christmas, following the discovery that, due to a particularly cold southern spring (Sounds familiar), the rimu fruit crop had been hit hard: here.

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Tool-making cockatoo discovery

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Goffin's cockatoos

From the University of Oxford in England:

Cockatoo ‘can make its own tools’

A cockatoo from a species not known to use tools in the wild has been observed spontaneously making and using tools for reaching food and other objects.

A Goffin’s cockatoo called ‘Figaro’, that has been reared in captivity and lives near Vienna, used his powerful beak to cut long splinters out of wooden beams in its aviary, or twigs out of a branch, to reach and rake in objects out of its reach. Researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Vienna filmed Figaro making and using these tools.

How the bird discovered how to make and use tools is unclear but shows how much we still don’t understand about the evolution of innovative behaviour and intelligence.

A report of the research is published this week in Current Biology and an accompanying video showing the behaviour is available here:

http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/group/kacelnik/movie_figaro_for_media.mov

Dr Alice Auersperg of the University of Vienna, who led the study, said: ‘During our daily observation protocols, Figaro was playing with a small stone. At some point he inserted the pebble through the cage mesh, and it fell just outside his reach. After some unsuccessful attempts to reach it with his claw, he fetched a small stick and started fishing for his toy.

‘To investigate this further we later placed a nut where the pebble had been and started to film. To our astonishment he did not go on searching for a stick but started biting a large splinter out of the aviary beam. He cut it when it was just the appropriate size and shape to serve as a raking tool to obtain the nut.

‘It was already a surprise to see him use a tool, but we certainly did not expect him to make one by himself. From that time on, Figaro was successful on obtaining the nut every single time we placed it there, nearly each time making new tools. On one attempt he used an alternative solution, breaking a side arm off a branch and modifying the leftover piece to the appropriate size for raking.’

Professor Alex Kacelnik of Oxford University, an author of the study, said: ‘Figaro shows us that, even when they are not habitual tool-users, members of a species that are curious, good problem-solvers, and large-brained, can sculpt tools out of a shapeless source material to fulfil a novel need.

‘Even though Figaro is still alone in the species and among parrots in showing this capacity, his feat demonstrates that tool craftsmanship can emerge from intelligence not-specialized for tool use. Importantly, after making and using his first tool, Figaro seemed to know exactly what to do, and showed no hesitation in later trials.’

Professor Kacelnik previously led studies in the natural tool-using New Caledonian crows. One of them, named Betty, surprised scientists by fashioning hooks out of wire to retrieve food that was out of reach. These crows use and make tools in the wild, and live in groups that may support culture, but there was no precedent for Betty’s form of hook making. Her case is still considered as a striking example of individual creativity and innovation, and Figaro seems ready to join her.

Professor Kacelnik said: ‘We confess to be still struggling to identify the cognitive operations that make these deeds possible. Figaro, and his predecessor Betty, may help us unlock many unknowns in the evolution of intelligence.’

See also here.

Saving Australia’s orange-bellied parrots

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Neophema chrysogaster male

From Wildlife Extra:

Critically Endangered Orange-bellied parrot mystery

The ‘Orange’ Pimpernel? – Disappearing parrot intrigues recovery team

September 2012. With a wild population of less than 50, it’s not surprising that the location of a summer hide-out used by a male Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster) is of great interest to the team trying to save the species from extinction.

Where does the bird go in the breeding season?

In its 2012 update, the Orange-bellied Parrot recovery team has revealed that an eight year old male bird, seen during winter around Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay, has not been seen for several seasons at the only known breeding site for the species at Melaleuca on Tasmania’s west coast.

Recovery Team member Peter Menkhorst, from the Department of Sustainability and Environment’s (DSE) Arthur Rylah Institute (ARI) said: “We have been aware of this bird since he was banded as a juvenile at Melaleuca in the summer of 2004/05 and he has been seen in Victoria over several winters, but we still don’t know where he goes during the breeding season. With such small numbers in the wild it is of great interest to the recovery team to find out if there is another, previously unknown, site where this species breeds,” Mr Menkhorst said.

No undiscovered population

“Unfortunately, no matter where he is going, we know from the small numbers coming to the winter feeding grounds in Victoria and South Australia that there is no large undiscovered breeding population of these birds.”

Wild birds breeding

“The other news during the 2012 breeding season was encouraging, with all known adult females participating in breeding at Melaleuca and at least 14 young fledging. The team decided it wasn’t necessary for any more wild birds to be taken into captivity this year as part of the Captive Breeding program.”

Captive breeding

“The successful captive breeding program, based at Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria, as well as at other facilities in Tasmania, NSW and South Australia, now has more than 200 birds and the team is considering the possibility of a release of captive-bred birds in the near future.”

The Orange-bellied Parrot National Recovery Team consists of representatives of the Commonwealth, Victorian, Tasmanian and South Australian governments, Zoos Victoria, Adelaide Zoo, Birdlife Australia, the Tasmanian Conservation Trust and threatened species experts.

Australian cockatoos in trouble

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This video is called Carnaby’s black cockatoo.

From BirdLife:

Carnaby’s numbers still down

Fri, Aug 17, 2012

BirdLife Australia’s (BirdLife Partner) 2012 Great Cocky Count has found that numbers of Endangered Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo in the Perth Region are still lower than reported in 2010.

The Great Cocky Count, organised by BirdLife Australia in partnership with the Department of Environment and Conservation, counts as many Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos as possible on a single night each year in April. This year’s count was at sunset on 15 April.

BirdLife Australia’s WA Program Manager, Cheryl Gole, said, “The latest results show a 40 per cent decrease since 2010 in the number of Carnaby’s counted at night roosts in the Swan Region, which includes the Perth metropolitan area. The minimum population size in the Swan Region was only 4000 Carnaby’s this year, similar to 2011, compared to 6700 in 2010. This suggests that numbers are still down in the region.”

The Swan Region provides critical winter feeding habitat for northern and western populations of the cockatoos. The 2012 count shows there is a decrease in the number of active roosts south of the Swan River.

“While all the reasons for the decreased number of Carnaby’s are not clear, habitat clearance has to be an important factor,” said Ms Gole. Pressure on cockatoo habitat in the Perth and Peel Region will increase because of our rapidly growing population and increasing housing requirements. BirdLife Australia believes increasing habitat clearance is the greatest threat to the species and that the remaining cockatoo habitat in the Perth and Peel Region is critical for the survival of Carnaby’s and must be protected.

Kakapo parrots on New Zealand island

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This video is called Kakapo – New Zealand.

From Wildlife Extra:

8th kakapo released onto Auckland island

After three weeks of medication at Auckland Zoo, kakapo moves to Little Barrier Island

May 2012. Rakiura, a 10 year-old female kakapo, who has spent the last 19 days at Auckland Zoo, is on her way to join seven other kakapo on Little Barrier Island (Hauturu).

8 kakapo moved from South Island

Rakiura was captured on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island, near Stewart Island, on Saturday April 18 along with five other kakapo. Two more kakapo were captured on the same day on Anchor Island in Fiordland. All eight of the flightless native parrots were then taken by helicopter to Invercargill airport, where they were placed on an Air New Zealand domestic flights to Christchurch, then Auckland. Rakiura was meant to be freed with the others that day, but an infection meant she was taken to Auckland Zoo for treatment instead.

Now, the healthy Rakiura is joining the seven other kakapo who were released on Little Barrier on April 18. She’s being driven to Warkworth and then flown by helicopter to the island.

Kakapo on Little Barrier Island

Kakapo have been released on Little Barrier to see if they can successfully raise chicks there without aid. Their progress will be closely monitored and support will be provided, if it’s required, to keep the birds alive. Kakapo were living on Little Barrier from 1982 to 1999. They were removed when kiore (Pacific rats) were eradicated from the island. Four of the kakapo released on April 18 had lived on Litte Barrier before: Ox and Merty (male) and Flossie and Heather (female).

Rakiura is Flossie’s daughter and has never lived on Little Barrier before. The other kakapo new to the island are Tiwai (15), Doc (10), both males, and Hananui (10) a female.

Stewart Island: here. And here.

September 2012. Kakapo Recovery was dealt a disappointing blow in August with the discovery of another dead bird – the sixth during the past year. Barnard was found dead by kakapo rangers on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island when they went looking for him for his annual transmitter change: here.

Kaka parrots: here.

Help Australia’s regent parrots

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This is a regent parrot video.

From Australian Geographic:

Eagle-eyes needed to spot rare regent parrots

THE REGENT PARROT – sometimes called the ‘rock pebbler,’ ‘black-tailed parakeet’ or ‘smoker’ – is well-known for being a bit of a chatterbox. But the bright-yellow and olive-green birds, local to Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, are becoming known for something far more concerning – their declining population.

Help is on the way, though, in the form of a national recovery plan recently launched by the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE).

Victor Hurley, DSE biodiversity officer and co-author of the plan, estimates there are 1500 breeding pairs in the wild, but says one of their first priorities is to find out just how many regent parrots are out there. “We are interested in knowing of any new breeding colonies,” he says.

The call is out for bird spotters

Victorians are being called on to report sightings of the parrots’ breeding locations, commonly found inside deep hollows in river red gum trees along the Murray, Wakool and Wimmera Rivers.

The recovery plan also addresses threats to the regent parrot’s habitat and encourages people to take precautions if they are near breeding sites.

Steps include limiting boat and 4WD activity near where the birds are breeding, reporting any illegal trapping or shooting and containing camp-fires.

“Fires along the river bends can cause huge problems when people are inattentive to their camp fires, which can and end up taking out sections of the forest with hollow bearing trees,” Victor says.

Parrots hole-up away from danger

In springtime, regent parrots nest inside hollows up to 2m long with small entrances roughly 9cm wide. The unusual shape of these hollows is perfect for guarding against goannas and parasites that live around the water.

Males are often spotted flying into their hollows after long journeys to collect seed, but it’s the parrots’ excitable calls that will let you know they’re around, Victor says. “Most often you can hear them before they fly into view.”

The DSE hopes the recovery plan will ultimately reverse the parrot’s population decline.

The plan has been adopted by the parrots three home states and is registered under the federal Environment Protection of Biodiversity Act.

If you’ve spotted one of the regent parrot’s breeding sites, call the DSE Mildura office on 03 5051 4500.

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